Salvation
by Iniora Nackatori
Summary: Imagine a world where the Mavericks are the good guys. Where Wily won, the earth’s three steps away from total annihilation, and the only thing that can save us is...well...a little insanity. ON HOLD.
1. Prolog

Well, this is my second take at Code Overlord. I've edited this slightly so that it is more like a fusion of the Rockman and Rockman X sagas. This is very, VERY AU!!

Oh yeah, and read my bio. I might not update this for a while, and likewise I might not update my other stories for a while. Depends on what my random brain is working on. Just leave a review if you like it or have a question or comment about my other works.

We're moving on to the story.

* * *

_**Salvation**_

Prologue  


* * *

What had been a casual day at the Resistance base had now become a confused cosmic dance. Men and Reploids – the more advanced free thinking version of robots – raced around the hanger bays. A single floating black tanker covered in burn marks from both fire and plasma floated into the nearest hanger. The crew inside this tanker either fell from the ship or more gracefully slid down the exit ramps. Fire crews raced inside to kill the blaze before it killed them. 

A single glass tube shaped like and approximately the size of a coffin came sliding down into the waiting arms of six Repliods. The glass lid was covered in frost, allowing only one small piece of the interior to be seen -- a bright blue triangular gem on the central point of a large golden 'W'. The six Repliods lifted the coffin and marched off. Their path was parted by the firemen desperately attempting to quell the blaze.

The coffin traveled through the rocky passages of the base. A boy seemingly aged twelve years, with rat's nest style brown hair and sparkling blue eyes, watched the precession pass. He gulped in reflex when he saw the golden 'W' about where the head of the coffin's occupant should be. Out of habit, he tightened his yellow scarf around his neck and pulled the full length red jacket he was wearing tighter around his white shirt and red jeans. Just the very sight of that symbol brought a chill to his memory. A chill of how he had found his creator, his father, with an expression of terror and bewilderment upon his face at the betrayal that had caused his untimely death. A chilling sigh, forever locked in his memory, of when he had first found him -- a man whispering his finial words while swimming face up in a pool of his own blood. Those last, desperate words, which still echoed in waking nightmares.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind. There was a mission to complete. His human sister – sister only because his creator and her birth father were one in the same – was waiting for him in what was lovingly dubbed the X Nursery. It was probably the most secure room in the whole facility and, as such, had been drafted to hold not only the capsule containing his father's last creation, but also his sister's infant daughter. The capsule's occupant was a clone of types of his younger bionic brother. The first of its kind, the clone's design specs had granted birth to the Reploid race and allowed him to join in its sentient ranks. This same clone was still in status.

Apparently, he was too strong to be allowed freedom in the real world without further testing of his character type. The Reploids that had been modeled after him had a far lower power level than their originator. As for why this strange boy had not been placed in a similar status after receiving a 'sentient upgrade'? The memories of what had happened to him in the past kept him far away from turning against humankind, he supposed. He had never really gotten a technical answer to that one.

He stopped at his destination. His fingers had just begun to brush the access panel when the door opened with a great whooshing sound. A feminine figure bounced right into his lower leg. He arched an eyebrow at that. Looking down, he found that the figure in question was none other than his niece. Laughing lightly to himself, he swooped down and captured the child.

"And just where do you think you're going?" he questioned the infant. He was already well aware that the child could not talk as of yet. However he didn't ask this question for a response. He asked it to see the smile spread across a face once shrouded in annoyance.

"Oh there she is!" a woman whose outfit was hidden entirely behind a white lab coat laughed aloud. This woman quickly reclaimed the infant without so much as a word of protest from the boy. "Thanks for stopping her, Blues."

"Hey, what's kind of an uncle would I be if I let my only niece out and about with _him_ inside base now?" Blues answered with a shrug. The woman's shoulders notably drooped in sadness.

"So the capture was successful?" the woman questioned.

"Looks that way."

Blues idly walked over towards a coffin-like capsule that lay at a slight angle against the wall. He gently ran his hands over the foggy surface, leaving small trails of where his fingers had been. The being inside looked so peaceful... so much like his little brother when he was in recharge... Blues sighed to himself. His father had whispered something in his dying breaths about having resurrected a rock.

"Hey, Rockman... If you're sleeping inside this guy's programming, be glad of it. This world's turned into hell." Blues whispered. For half a second he could have sworn he saw the familiar blue eyes of his youngest brother open and his mouth whisper out some unheard sentence. Needless to say, Blues jumped back.

"Blues?" the woman questioned.

"...Wake me up..." Blues whispered.

"What?"

"Wake me up... He just said wake me up!" Blues laughed, pointing at the coffin's occupant.

"But Blues, the tests aren't complete yet. That and the power to his capsule has been at a minimum. How could he have asked you to wake him up? Unless..." the woman let her sentence hang.

"Unless what?" Blues demanded. The woman replaced the infant in her crib. Once certain that this time the child was secure, she took a seat at the computer.

"Unless what!?" This time Blues came close to shouting.

The woman pulled up a display of what appeared to be a Reploid. He was wearing Blues' scarf around his neck, a grey skin tight body suit, red chest, forearm, shoulder, and leg armor, white colored armor over his feet, and a red helmet with an apparently unmovable black visor covering his eyes. Blues instantly recognized it as himself in full battle armor. A second Reploid appeared next to the first. He wore a pure light blue skin tight body suit, dark blue forearm, chest, shoulder, and leg armor, dark blue armor covering his feet, and a dark blue helmet accented with light blue with a single red gem centered in the middle of his forehead. Blues also recognized this Reploid to be the clone of his younger brother, the same which rested inside of the coffin.

Blues watched with wide eyes as the two images were set to show schematics alone, then overlaid on top of one another. The two had no differences. The woman leaned back in her chair, fighting hard against a fit of shocked, joyful laughter.

"Good lord!" the woman laughed. She quickly looked up at Blues. "Blues, do you have any idea what this means?" Blue was so shocked, he simply nodded his head no.

"It means that Rockman's still alive! His memory core was transplanted into his clone! When you found father, you said he was whispering something about reviving a rock? What he was saying was that he had given Rockman a second chance! He had transplanted Rockman's memory core into Rockman X!" the woman practically fell out of her seat laughing in relief.

"Our brother's still alive!"

Blues' eyes snapped back to the coffin. A small smile played upon his lips.

"Then what are we waiting for? We need to get him the hell out of there!" Blues laughed. The woman stood from her seat.

"We'd better get permission from Signas first," the woman sighed.

"Screw him; I'm getting my brother out of there." The woman only laughed.

"Alright, alright." The woman walked over to the door. Unbeknownst to her and the overexcited Blues, the small infant from before was slowly creeping her way out the door with her mother.

"I'll tell Signas. You just better be ready to have your faceplate handed to you when I get back."

"Whatever," came the stiff reply. She laughed again, exiting the room.

The infant also left. She toddled down the corridors, heading in the opposite direction of her birth mother. Her oddly silver hair flapped lightly against her silver infant's top. Both her top and her hair accented her oddly green eyes. However despite these oddities, none of the Reploids or humans walking down the same corridor as her seemed to take heed in her progression. In fact it seemed as if she was alone in the world. She toddled on alone now, taking a side route through a small cooling vent. With a plop, she reached her destination.

The room was dark and dusty from years of being kept in a state of standby. A few dials clicked here and there, illuminating the room for a few moments before fading out and returning everything to darkness yet again. The child, not at all frightened by this darkness, toddled forward towards a small door. On this door was inscribed a single message all in capital letters.

"Dr. Cossack: Forte. Do Not Enter."

Being unable to read, the girl ignored this warning. All she had to do to cause the door to open was to place her hands upon the door. With one little push, it fell flat onto the floor. The movement of the rusted piece of metal sent dust flying through the revealed room. The infant let out a small giggle of wonder at the beauty of the dust falling to the ground, each particle being called out before her by the ominously awakened green glow located in the center of the room.

A glowing green tube filled with a strange off-color liquid stood centered in the middle of the room. Wires streamed through the liquid like pasta through spaghetti sauce connecting to a Reploid floating in the center of the strange liquid. If not for the liquid, it would have easily been seen that the Reploid dawned black armor accented at the feet, thighs, forearms, and shoulders in a desert tan color. The Reploid's helmet folded back from a point behind where his ears should be like two fish fins colored pure tan and outlined with a straight black line going vertically through the center and around of the fins. This last touch added an even fishier look to the Reploid. His eyes were closed, making it impossible to tell what color they were.

Floating as he was in his liquid prison, the Reploid dreamed. He stood, floating in a room without floors, without walls, without ceilings. Everything, including himself, was bathed in a beautiful white glow. Before him stood a figure whose looks were lost within the glow of the room.

"You've come..." His voice was a rich, simplistic, soft baritone. The figure nodded.

"You wish...for me to awaken? To meet you in reality?" Again the figure simply nodded.

"But...But Dr. Cossack... He has not given me permission." The figure lowered its head in sadness.

"He is gone... My creator...is dead...? I feel pain at this..." The figure seemed to sing.

"Emotion? I am showing the emotion of sadness?" The figure continued with its wordless explanation.

"...So his final act with Dr. Thomas Xavier Light was to transplant the memory core of unit zero-zero-one into prototype sentient unit Rockman X... and then to install a sentient circuit within me...? He wished...for me to be free of Wily's betrayal..." His eyes snapped up to meet the glowing form of the figure before him.

"Who are you? Why is it I see you here, in this world? Tell me! What would my name have been? What is my name?!"

The figure was gone. The room began to fade. And then, there was nothing.

A feeling of cold splashed over him. He opened his brilliant blood red eyes, gasping for air as the green liquid within the tube fell away down draining pipes. The wires that had been attached to his flesh snapped off, pulling themselves back into the roof of the strange capsule. He pushed his hands against the glass of the capsule in an effort to stop himself from falling face first against the cold, smooth surface. Slowly, his fearful eyes fell upon the infant that had traveled so far to see him. She sat with her legs crossed, staring intently up at his panting form.

The glass dome slid open, allowing him to exit. He weakly walked out of the capsule, stumbling slightly as he moved. The child watched him with unblinking eyes. He walked over to the fallen rusty door. Looking down, he read the message in capital letters aloud.

"Dr. Cossack: Forte. Do Not Enter." He looked back at the girl.

"You ignored the warning? Why?" Much to his shock, the girl simply rolled over onto her back and let out a small giggle. Frustration grew slightly.

"What is so funny?" The child sat back up, looked at him, then yawned. Somehow he seemed to understand.

"You are tiered. It's time for your nap then... You are too young to answer my questions, aren't you? You followed a wish, as many children your age do, and found my capsule. You are rather...cute." A warm feeling tugged lightly at his flesh.

"Yes, you are cute. I will watch over you, cute child, and care for you as I saw Dr. Cossack care for his daughter. I wonder... Do you not have a mother and a father whom are worried for you?" The child yawned again.

"My apologies. I am keeping you awake, you who are cute and too young to answer my questions." He walked over to the yawning infant, picking her gently up off the floor.

"My name is Forte, cute child... May pleasant dreams come to you while you rest within the safety of my arms."

Now with a sense of self and a true name, Forte surveyed the lab he was in. There was no place for him to sit and to simply stand with the child seemed pointless. So, he sat down with his legs dangling slightly on the uppermost level of the capsule that had held him previously. The child looked up at him as if expecting something. Seemingly catching on to the child's thoughts, Forte pushed his lips together and began to whistle. It was a soothing lullaby – the same he had heard his creator sing somewhat off key to his daughter whenever she could not fall asleep. Now truly content, the child slept within her new protector's arms.

While Forte was busy awakening, someone completely different was trying to come to terms with his new situation.

Rockman X's capsule awoke with a snap and whir of steam. The cables supplying his systems with power snapped off with little protest. Slowly, the blue Reploid stumbled out of the chamber. Blues quickly caught his disgruntled brother in his arms.

"Hey, take it easy there." Blues warned at a whisper. The light blue eyes of the Reploid slowly fluttered open.

"B-Blues...?" The voice, the feel of his armor under his flesh, the look deep within his eyes... There was no doubt in Blues' mind who this Reploid truly was.

"Rockman!" Blues held back his emotions no longer. He pulled the disgruntled Reploid tight against him in a brotherly hug. "Rockman, it's really you! I thought... I thought for so long that you...were dead..."

"Blues!" Rockman's voice echoed, this time with more force. "Blues, point aside, you're squishing me!"

"Not possible, little bro. Dad did a serious upgrade on your armor. Only a high burst plasma blast could dent this thing." Blues countered, his grip instead of lightening, tightening ever harder against the Reploid.

"Blues!" Rockman groaned. His eyes suddenly snapped wide in shock. "Blues, where's dad? And Rush, Roll, Dr. Cossack, and...? Where is everyone?"

Blues slowly pulled back. "They're dead, Rock... Dad...Dad died in my arms... He...couldn't get you out of his head, even as he was dying. He's the one that told me your memory core had been transplanted to X's frame."

"X? You mean the...the what-cha-ma-call-it dad was working on before Fireman malfunctioned?" Rockman questioned blankly.

"Yeah, the Reploid. You're memory core was transplanted inside of his frame, so technically you're X now." Seeing as his explanation was getting nowhere fast, Blues pulled his brother back. He closed the lid on the capsule his brother had just awakened from. It still held its reflective properties, allowing Rockman to see his changed features.

"...Holy..." Rockman whispered. He reached his hands up to feel his face, followed by looking down at those same familiar yet unfamiliar hands with a blank expression.

"And if you think that's a shock, you're going to absolutely love the number the past twenty years pulled on Caroline." Blues chuckled.

"Well excuse me!" Caroline's voice snapped from the entrance of the room, "Who am I to argue with fate shoving a lovely man right into my arms?"

Rockman's eyes widened in shock and he felt his mouth slip. The girl he had once known as a bouncing little infant had grown into a mature looking older adult.

"Caroline!?" The woman in question walked over to the awakened Rockman. With one figure, she closed his gapping mouth.

"Don't drop the jaw yet, bro. You've still got your niece to see." Caroline teased. At that, Rockman did a double take.

"My What?!"

"Yeah, that reminds me. The kid hasn't made even the littlest peep. I wonder..." Blues stopped mid sentence as he saw the crib was empty. "Damn. How the hell does she do that?"

"Huh?" Rockman echoed in confusion, where as Caroline followed Blues' gaze to the infant's empty crib.

"Ah no! In all the excitement, she must have slipped out!" Caroline released a deep sigh. "I guess we'll just have to do a floor by floor search again."

"Hold it!" Rockman snapped. "Who or what are we talking about?"

"Allure Tatiana Light, my daughter and your niece." Caroline explained, pointing first to herself then towards Rockman. The newly awakened Blue Bomber felt his knees go week. Before he could fall flat on his aft, Blues had him sitting down in a chair.

"Not only do I find out that dad's dead and half our family in ruin, but also that I'm the prototype dad was working on and that I'm an uncle. All of this in one day..." He took a deep breath. "For a robot, stuff like this sure is hitting hard."

"Technically you're not a robot anymore. Robots have to listen to orders. You're a Reploid – a robot with free will." Caroline explained bluntly.

"Oh, great," sarcasm was practically dripping off those last two words, "I guess I better get up then and help find the wayward infant. What does she look like anyway?"

"Blues will go with you, so you can get three things done in one."

"Yeah; a tour, a history lesson, and hopefully an introduction to your niece." Blues answered before his brother could ask.

"Well in that case, make it four things. He should see _him_." Caroline whispered the name with slight disgust.

"Him?"

Blues' hand came to rest upon Rockman's shoulder.

"Don't ask... At least don't ask yet. Let me fill you in on everything fist." Blues whispered. Rockman threw his arms in the air.

"Fine. Let's go then. The faster we get moving, the sooner I see Caroline's daughter, and the sooner I find out what the blue blazes is going on around here!"

Caroline and Blues watched as Rockman stormed out the door.

"Yep. He's still our bro."


	2. Chapter 1: Personal

Italics will be either recorded speech or real time metal speech. Speech found in 'blah' will be past verbal or mental speech repeated mentally within the mind of the specified character. Trust me; you'll understand when you get to it.

Please note that you will see a lot of OOC (out of character) here. I don't have a clue how these people really act, that and as of this chapter our favorite Crimson Hunter is STILL under Wily's control. So please keep that in mind.

And on a final note: Please Review! Not just this story, but all stories! Please? If you don't mind? Reviews are becoming just about as rare as a good book these days...

Well, now that everything's settled, let's move on.

* * *

_**Salvation**_

Chapter 1: Personal

* * *

_Personal data entry; Rockman X recording._

_Blues wasn't kidding when he said that this world had become hell. Every since I had found out the truth to my demise as Rockman I've been having second thoughts about fighting. It was my ability to fight in the first place that caused Wily to rebel like that. Blues keeps saying that it's not my fault, that Wily was a nut case to begin with. And he's telling the truth as he always has. This war, the deaths caused by it, the uncivilized, corrupt, horrid mental destabilization of that Reploid down in lockup... It was all Wily's fault. He's the one that caused Fireman to malfunction. He did it because he was afraid I would be able to stop him. And you know what? He's right. I will stop him, even if it means I must lose my life again in the struggle for peace._

_On a less fury driven note, Allure's permanent nanny-bot was decided yesterday. Forte was unanimously called into serves as her Guardian. After all, he was the one that found her first when I was awakened. Or make that she found him first. Either way, the match couldn't have been made any clearer. Besides, he's the one that's always shadowing her in the hallway. Some Reploids reported seeing him catch her before falling flat on her face when he hadn't even been in the same room as her seconds earlier. The guy has a serious knack for keeping her out of trouble. It's like he's got radar tuned to her bio frequency or something._

_Well, I have work to do. Being the commander of the 17th Maverick Unit does give a guy a lot of responsibility. But I've got help in the form of Caroline and Blues. And when she's old enough, maybe even Allure will pitch in as a mechanic. I won't even dream of saying front line fighter. Stuff like that is best left to the Reploids._

_Rockman X ending personal recording._

--------

X, as he had decided to go by, leaned back in his chair. He counted down in his mind.

"Three, two, one..."

And right on cue the door alarm went off.

"It's unlocked as always, sis." X sighed.

In walked Caroline with Allure in tow. Forte seemed to vanish into the shadows, either that or he wasn't even there. That would have been odd; however, X was too used to the shadowy Reploid after two years of living with him to notice anything odd about him now. Although he had noticed that since he now had emotions, he seemed quieter, less boastful than he had been without the sentient upgrade.

"You know me far too well, X." Caroline laughed. Allure tugged gently on her mother's sleeve.

"And I know what that means." X laughed. He sat straight up in the chair, tapping both hands on his legs. "Yah want a sit in the commander's seat?"

"Yeah!" Allure giggled. She still seamed weary of X at times, but those times were few, occurring only when she felt he was troubled to the point of being snappish about his duties as a commander. Regardless of his mood now, she bound head over foot towards her uncle. With one great lift, she was airborne for a few seconds before finding a comfortable perch in X's lap.

"So, what news do we have today?" X questioned to Caroline.

"The usual, with the exception of the Wilybot in lockup." Caroline sighed.

"Oh? I thought he had taken a vow of silence when we took that control cortex off his helmet a year and a half ago." X blinked.

"Well he had, 'til somebody decided to sneak out of her room for the past ten nights and pester him into talking. He's not much of a chatter box, and whatever he is talking about to the pester-mister, it's not being repeated." At this point, Caroline's line of sight fell on her daughter. If she could have willed it, Allure would have warped right to her room if only to escape that particular stare from her mother. X caught the hint.

"So," he leaned back, taking Allure with him. Her midriff left open, he began his dreaded tickle torture. "Somebody's been hacking the locks again, huh?"

Allure remained silent on the topic at hand, yet giggled profusely at the fact her tummy was being mercilessly attacked by ten wiggling fingers. X paused for a few seconds, giving the child a chance to breath, before continuing again.

"Well? Come on, what's the answer?"

"O-Okay!" Allure finally succumbed to her uncle's method of torture. He stopped and sat her upright yet again. "I admit I made the locks click."

Allure's three year old mind's definition of hacking a lock: making a lock click.

"But I didn't make the lock click on Mr. Zero's cell." X breathed a slight sigh of relieve at this. He then stopped, and blinked.

"Mr. Zero?" he repeated. Allure nodded her head.

"Uh-huh. His name's Mr. Rockman Zero. But, I just call him Mr. Zero, because your other name is uncle Rockman X, and having two people named Rockman was too confusing." she explained. A juvenile statement, but true nonetheless. Her expression grew downtrodden.

"Allure?" X questioned softly. She looked up at him, her eyes sad.

"He...He said he wants to kill you, uncle X... I was gonna ask him why last night, but I heard the guards making the locks click down the hall, so I left. May... May I have your permission to visit him today when it's not so late? And...uh...without the guards or anybody watching?" Allure's eyes had turned hopeful, almost pleading.

"I'll see what I can do. But, shouldn't you be asking your mother first?"

Allure turned back to face her slightly annoyed mother. She blinked, then gulped.

"I thought she was gonna yell if I asked her first." Allure whispered her explanation. X nodded slowly in understanding. Caroline may not have been a Reploid, but that didn't stop her from having a fist and a voice that, combined, could deal out as much punishment as a plasma rifle.

"...Allure..." her mother's voice had turned to ice. Allure gulped.

"Allure, you have class with the other children in a few moments."

Allure thanked whatever deity had decided to send Forte to rescue her from her mother's frozen wrath. She quickly said her goodbyes and one quiet good luck to her blue uncle before jumping delicately from his lap to the floor. She took Forte's outstretched hand. They left with Allure humming the haunting lullaby Forte had taught her when she was nothing more than an infant.

The nanosecond the door was bolted, Caroline snapped.

"You're allowing her to talk to that monster?!?!?!?!"

X leaned back in his chair, watching his sister fume. He had to fight back a laugh or two at the outlandish foreign curse words she spewed. He instantly lost that will when she removed his helmet and smashed her fist against his head then replaced his helmet all in one fast move.

"Pay attention! You should be the most cautious around him! He's outright said that he wants to kill you!! And to my daughter! **_My daughter!!_**" Once her furry had cooled to a more manageable level, Caroline slumped down into the X's office guest chair.

"...I'm so worried, X... So...So worried... I don't want to loose the rest of my family to that mad man."

X stood up from his chair. He pulled his sister to her feet, and pulled her into a tight hug. He held her close to him, allowing her to feel the echoing thump of his mechanical heart resonating through his armor.

"So long as I have the will to live, no one else in our family is going to be hurt by Wily. But... We have to take a small risk. He may not even know why he wishes to kill me. He might not even know anything about what Wily's made him do. We need to know as much about him as we can. And if he needs it, we must provide as much help as he is willing to accept. It's what I believe father would do if he were here."

He waited till her tears had dried before releasing her again.

"Thanks. I needed that, Nii-san..." Rockman X simply smiled.

"Hey, what are younger brothers for?" Caroline smiled as well. Two red arms suddenly wrapped around their necks, pulling them into a group hug.

"So! I see you two have had a busy morning! Want to fill the older bro in?"

"Blues!" Caroline echoed off the first of the two part protest.

"How many times have I told you, I hate it when you just warp straight into my room!" X growled. He tossed Blues' arm off him, socking his older with a gentle elbow punch to the gut. Blues seemed to have not even felt it.

"So, like I was saying, want to fill me in?"

Ten minutes later and Blues was left in total silence.

"He actually _talked_ to her?" he whispered.

"Apparently it was just enough for her to make coherent sense of what he was saying." X answered. Blues leaned back against a wall, crossing his arms over his chest. His brow was furled behind his visor, echoing the fact he was deep in thought.

"Talk to Signas. Have him okay the plan. But make sure Forte's close enough to know if Allure needs help. I don't want to make her the center point of an interrogation tactic and I also don't want her jeopardized, but it looks like we might not have a choice." Blues sighed.

"We just might." Caroline echoed. She had remained oddly silent in the background till now.

"How so?" X was the first to question.

"If we can get him to trust her enough to trust us, then maybe we can interrogate him lightly with idle chit-chat."

"Yah know, that's so daft it might just work." Blues chuckled. Caroline repeated with him the same tactic she had used to get X to stop thinking of laughing. His reaction to the tactic made X laugh just as hard as he would have during one of Caroline's cursing sprees.

* * *

The cell room was dark, the only illumination being that of the soft amount of light coming through the barred upper windows. Allure did not mind the lack of light, having lost her fear of whatever demons might lurk in the dark with her discovery of Forte.

She had with her a tray loaded down with a hot meal. She had slipped a few chocolate chip cookies onto the tray before leaving the guards' watchful eyes. Her juvenile mind connected darkness to sadness waiting to be lighted up by some kind of joy. Joy, she reasoned, came in small packages of warm delicious melted chocolate dough balls that had lacked enough consistency to stay as balls, therefore flattening out into oval cookies. With that kind of non-technical argument at her disposal, any reason for her not to lighten up the lockup block Mr. Zero was in with the small treats was shot to ribbons.

Allure found him in his usual halfway slumped position against the wall in his cell. He had on the same black body suit under the same once pristine white hand, feet, and central helmet armor, and red full chest, leg, arm, shoulder, and main helmet armor. His helmet was different from the others she had seen. It had horn-like short red spikes coming up in two places. One was where demons of lore had their spikes, and second and final pair was directly behind the first. The white central triangular section of his helmet had a downward facing triangular beautiful blue jewel. And his hair! Allure had never seen hair quite like his. It reached down in one swooping golden ponytail straight to his heels. To finish his design and add some sort of color to his two-tone arrangement, a golden capital cursive Z was painted onto his right shoulder guard.

His brilliant green eyes looked over at Allure in casual fashion.

"Hello, Mr. Zero." Allure laughed. He said nothing in response. Not at all abated by this, she set the tray down on the floor by the meta-alloy bars of his cell. She then promptly sat behind the tray of food.

"I brought some cookies with me, along with your normal meal. Mamma helped me bake them, so they're full of lots of good joy!"

Zero seemed to melt like a red shadow into the darkness, and just as quickly reappeared sitting cross legged in front of the child. He reached his hand through the bar. Allure giggled lightly at his request.

"You're welcome." And with that she placed the cookie in his grip. Zero stared at it blankly for quite some time.

"Silly!" Allure giggled before him. She picked up one of the ten remaining cookies and demonstrated how to eat it. Once sure the girl had swallowed, Zero slowly followed suite.

"Here, you should eat the rest of your meal first. Mamma always says it's not good to spoil your appetite with cookies before you eat your dinner. I think she also meant that to apply to lunch, too."

Allure took another two cookies before sliding the tray through a small vertical slit between herself and Zero. Once Zero was eating the warmer part of his meal, Allure pulled out a small lunchbox. The two ate in silence. Once both were done, Allure took back the tray, leaving the uneaten remaining seven cookies in Zero's grasp.

"...I have made my mission clear to you, yet you still come to me and hold such idle talk... Why?" Zero's voice almost seemed chalky, as if it had never been used before. And yet, if one took away that chalky edge, they would find he had a rich treble offsetting his demonic looks.

Allure set her cookies on the lunchbox before her. She slowly rose to her feet, making it so that she was now level with Zero's eyes. Her head snapped up, her brilliant green eyes forcing the emeralds of Zero's eyes to become locked within the depths of her own gems.

"Because I don't think you mean it." Allure answered harshly.

"I heard from uncle Blues that Dr. Wily created you to destroy uncle X. I also heard that Dr. Wily added the sentient data into your programming. That report was confirmed by Dr. Cain and mamma. However, the sentient data in your programming was deemed to be inactive."

"I do not see what this has to do with the conversation at hand." Zero answered coolly.

"He took away your free will! He took away your will to feel!" Allure shouted out at the top of her lungs. The tears she had been fighting back splashed down against the cold ground. Zero noticed the tears first before noticing their source.

"You're leaking." He stated bluntly.

"No...I'm crying for you, Mr. Zero..." Allure countered. She sniffled once, wiping her eyes with the edges of her short silver sleeve, and plopped back down against the ground. The very notion caused Zero to sit back slightly.

"C-Crying...?" His voice lost its chalky edge for a moment.

"Uh-huh... You can't cry or be sad because Dr. Wily took away your will to feel. S-Somebody's got to cry for you if you can't even cry for yourself."

Zero seemed to melt back into the shadows of his monotonic self before answering, "Crying is a human trait. Humans are weak."

"That's true, but at the same time it's a lie."

"There is only one possible answer. Explain why there is two."

"You told me that humans are weak. I agree with this statement in the physical sense. Human beings in comparison to Reploids on the physical level are weak. But on the emotional level, there are differences. Both humans and Reploids can be emotionally weak. They can fail to see the joy in front of them, and become so lost in the depression of darkness that they vouch to terminate their existence instead of finding the light of joy again. Some do this through the method of suicide bombings in order to disguise this weakness as strength. Others use the method of simplistic suicide which has no mask of so called courage. However, the fact remains that both factions – humans and Reploids alike – can be emotionally weak. The reverse of this statement is true as well. Both factions can be emotionally strong.

"Humans, with more experience in emotional matters, often times find themselves the strongest emotionally. They can lead better, handle stressful situations better, and can even find gentler paths through grievances easer than their weaker emotionally based Reploid counterpart." Allure stopped here. She looked back up at Zero, the tears still evident in her eyes.

"That's why I cry for you, Mr. Zero, because the strong have to help the weak. I don't want to become weak in the only area I excel at, so I exercise my strength by helping the weak. In an emotional sense, I am the stronger of the sentient beings present in this lockup sector."

Zero remained silent, processing the words of the child before him. He picked up one of the cookies from his hand.

"You say these are filled with joy?" Allure nodded her head yes.

"Then please eat these, and stop crying. Seeing you cry...disturbs me...here." And with his clenched cookie filled hand, he laid his hand over his heart. Zero then quickly devoured the cookie he had in his free hand, with Allure following in quick pursuit. Both released a gentle burp of satisfaction.

"These are good." Zero's less chalky voice smiled lightly.

"Uh-huh! I'll ask mommy if we can bake some real fresh ones tomorrow before I come!"

"Won't they notify your uncles if they see you coming here during the daytime too often?" Zero questioned.

Allure seemed to slump lightly at that. She beckoned him closer to the bars. Once his head was even with the bar, she leaned forward. A short set of whispers later, and Zero was brought up to speed on what she had been forced to relay to her uncles and Commander Signas.

"I see. I'm not angry at you, Allure. You were given no choice." Zero disappeared into the shadows again, only to reappear in the same spot he had stayed at for over two years. "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, then."

"Bye!"

Allure, now guilt free and filled with joy, dashed off towards the exit. Zero heard the locks click and the echo of Allure's laughter at suddenly being hoisted off the ground by her boisterous uncle Blues, and he heard it all echo away like ice melting slowly in the warming sun.

He gently altered his position so that he was lying flat on the meta-alloy jail cell bed. His hands rested behind his head, serving as a kind of pillow, and the heaters in his armor compensated for the chilling air that came in with the setting of the sun.

'I'm crying for you, Mr. Zero. You can't cry or be sad because Dr. Wily took away your will to feel.'

Allure's words seemed to haunt him. What was it that she had said? His sentient program had been left inactive?

_Self diagnostic program activation. Search hard drive. Locate file name: Sentient Program._ Zero's mental command was answered by several small screens coming into his field of vision. The search results came back negative.

_Rerun search. Search for keyword: Sentient._ Again the search responded negative.

_Rerun search. Search keywords: Human Emotion. Ignore internal dictionary response._ This time he had a lock.

_Locate and activate program._ A warning came across his field of view.

_Warning: Activation of program will override current programming. Do you wish to see contents of program before activating? Yes._

Zero absorbed the data scrolling past his vision carefully. The definition gave him the answers he was looking for. The Sentient Emotional Replication program allowed for Reploids to feel and experience human emotions, thinning the line between the human race and the race of machines to nothing more than a dull mark.

_Activate Human Emotion Program. Warning: Activation of... Cancel error. Activate program. It will be necessary to reboot all systems after activation. Comply? Yes. Do whatever is necessary to activate program. Command registered. Deactivating all key and secondary systems excluding core power unit maintenance system._

To the world it was as if Zero had fallen asleep. To Zero, it was the dawn of something eccentric. At first, while the program took effect, he felt no difference within him. And then, he felt it. He felt a strange tugging at the back of his mind -- his conscious, perhaps? He decided to test this theory by replaying his memories starting from his activation to the present moment and applying the new feeling to them.

Zero snapped up in alarm from his once docile position on the bed. His hand clutched at his racing heart, his mind whirled in pain at the memories he had seen in such a strange new light. He searched his internal dictionary for the right word to match the grotesque feelings that echoed through him about his past acts. Only two words came forth. Self hate.

No. His stubbornness was coming to light. It was hate he was feeling, but not at himself. It was a deep hate at his creator for forcing him to do such things when he had no choice in the matter. He had been stripped of his will to feel! A boiling anger awoke in him. He had been stripped of the very thing that allowed Reploids and humans alike to choose their own destiny! And he despised that man and what he had done to him with a newfound passion.

"From this moment on, I am Wily's slave no longer. I _hate_ what he made me become, and I will _destroy_ his beloved empire in show of that hate. I will have...**_revenge_**!"


	3. Chapter 2: Upgrade

I got...reviews...

Gomen! My computer recently had a total virus infection and now, after a good five days worth of work on cleaning it out, it's still screwy. But, now that I've got my own laptop, updates should only take months instead of semesters, but let's not forget to factor in school and... (sweat drop) Eh... anyway. I apologize for the delay. PLEASE REVIEW!!

PS: I've heard conflicting reports in regards to Forte's creation. Some say he was made by Cossack and kidnapped by Wily, other say he's Wily's one pride and joy. Honestly, I have no clue, so I'm just going to go with the Cossack report. And, I also noticed someone reviewed in regards to who was who with Japanese names. Sorry for the delayed answer, but here they are!

Rockman is Megaman here in the states. Blues is Protoman, and Forte is Bass. I really hope they meant the instrument and not the fish, because how in the world do you get a fish name from a volume name?? Screwy Capcom who can't do plots and ticks me off. If you've played Command Mission you know what I mean.

Well, I better get on with the story before I give everything away! Eep!

* * *

_**Salvation**_

Chapter 2: Upgrade

* * *

Allure whistled out her own faster version of the lullaby Forte had taught her so long ago. It seemed to be the only thing saver her cookies which added any excess joy to the dark jail block. In her hands she held a tray loaded with a single ham sandwich, two tall glasses of milk, and this time a full bag of at least twenty cookies.

Halfway down the hallway, she heard someone whistling a pitch higher than her. She stopped for a moment with her own whistling. The higher pitch stopped as well. She walked forward a few more feet, then whistled again. The higher pitch answered her. The sunlight filtered out through the bars, spreading forward to reveal the odd crimson flower which had bloomed in the night. It had the familiar golden edge of Mr. Zero's ponytail, but it was up against the wall. Her heart stopped with hope for several seconds as the fact it was not a human-sized crimson flower being reflected in the morning sun, but Zero himself leaning against the wall of the cell, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He was actually in a different position then the last few times Allure had ever seen him. That alone told the girl something was different with her jailed friend.

Zero opened his eyes. He smiled at her, a warm and gentle smile which did not appear forced or pressured in any way at all. He pushed his lips together and whistled out the lullaby a pitch higher than what Allure had been whistling at. Allure's eyes widened in a way that seemed to say she had heard a message hidden in his tune. She quickly broke into a gentle run, jogging the rest of the way to Zero's cell. By time she got there, Zero was standing straight up with his hands on his hips.

"Mr. Zero!" Allure laughed. She skidded to a halt, grabbed the bag of cookies, and slid the food straight into his cell. Zero stopped the tray from sliding into the wall with his foot.

"What kept yah, Allure?"

His voice no longer held the chalky additive. He seemed so alive to the young girl. It was almost as if she was talking to a completely different person. But yet she knew -- she knew this was the same Zero she had spoken to yesterday. Only now he seemed more... There was no other way to describe him than to say that he simply seemed more real. He was there in the physical world now more so than he had ever been in his whole life.

"M-Mr. Zero!" Allure laughed again, this time accenting her joy with a small tear of happiness. She quickly opened the bag of cookies, allowing the steam to float off into the distance.

"I brought these just for you and me!" Allure gently passed him the first cookie. Zero bent down so that he was squatting before Allure. He took the cookie and broke it in half, passing Allure the larger piece. Allure released a soft giggle.

"Whenever Uncle X and I share cookies like this, we say a little rhyme. Friends for now, friends for later; friends until the sun never shines, and even then we'll be friends forever."

"Friends for now, friends for later; friends until the sun never shines, and even then we'll be friends forever." Zero echoed.

In complete unison, both child and Reploid ate their respected cookie halves in one bite. Without so much as thinking, the girl began to divvy out the remaining cookies. While she did that, Zero pulled the tray forward. He lay down on his side, using his right hand as a pillow, and began munching lightly on his sandwich.

"...Allure..." Allure stopped mid bite of her own sandwich. She looked gently over at the changed Zero. "...I've come to a decision about my past...about what I did working for Wily. And if yah don't mind, don't ever call him in a polite manner around me again."

"Okay, whatever. Half the people give me odd looks when I'm polite about his name, anyway. Mommy just calls him a bakayero." Zero halfway choked on his sandwich at the word.

"Don't call him that around polite company either. It's a word your mother shouldn't be saying around somebody as young as you anyway."

"Then what should I call him? Wily the dork-a-sorus?" Allure demanded. Zero burst out laughing at that one.

"That'll work." His features then dulled slightly, and he took keen interest in the fixings of his sandwich. "Allure... I'd like to speak to your uncles and Commander Signas..." It was Allure's turn to stop eating completely.

"Huh? But I thought you swore never to talk to anybody in the higher ranks?"

"That was..." he paused, almost as if he were about to will himself to defy the world, "That was before you convinced me to activate the sentient program data and apply it to my memories. I hate that monstrosity, Wily, for what he made me do in the past. You were right when you said I didn't have a choice in wishing to kill X. Wily hid the ability to choose my own destiny from me, and for that I will never forgive him." Zero looked back at the girl.

"I'm not going to carry out my mission to destroy X and cripple the Maverick Rebellion. Instead, I'm going to defect to the Maverick side of the war."

Allure's eyes went wide. She dropped her half eaten sandwich, having just recently learned the meaning of the term 'defect' in the context Zero was using it, and in knowing what it meant, fully understood the repercussions of her friend's statement.

"Don't change your mind when I get back, or else we're both in trouble. Deal?" the girl questioned. Zero stuck his hand out through the bars. Allure gripped it tightly.

"Deal." Zero answered. Their handshake was broken. Zero had only seen one thing move faster than his young friend, and that was himself.

"Uncle X! Uncle Blues! Forte! Mamma! Zero said he wants to talk to Commander Signas! He's gonna defect to the Maverick side of the war!"

A resonating 'Holy shit' from the guards echoed into his hearing. Well, he'd expected a rather shocked reaction, but he hadn't expected something like that. Nor had he expected Allure's mother to come to a careening halt before his cell in a matter of seconds. He was still lying on the floor, finishing off the remainder of his sandwich as casually as if what the child had just relayed of his wishes was nothing more than an everyday activity. Slowly, he stood up. He brushed himself off, patted his armor clean of dust, flicked his hair away, and faced Allure's mother.

"Is...Is what my daughter just said true?" Caroline demanded. She looked just as exhausted as her daughter, who had just slid back with Forte and Blues in full armor hot on her heels

"It is. I wish to defect to the Mavericks."

"Holy f...!" Zero's eyes instantly fell on Blues, whose mouth had been clamped closed by Forte's hand. Caroline simply echoed what her mechanical brother would have said in German. Allure, knowing some German of her own, looked up at her mother.

"Mommy! It's rude to curse like that with a three year old present!"

"You're four in half a month, so it doesn't matter." Her mother waved off her daughter's retort.

"She's right, though. It's still rude to curse like that with a kid present."

"Hey! I'm four in half a month!"

"And you'll still be a kid." Zero countered. Allure made a face at him.

"Be glad you're still stuck in there, or I'd kick yah in the shin!" Allure warned.

"You'd only hurt yourself if yah did that. My armor's made from titanium x plating."

"T-Titanium x... It registered as meta-alloy though..." Caroline stated in wonder.

"That was something my former employer threw in to confuse enemy scanning equipment." Zero explained. Caroline nodded her head up and down in shocked recognition.

"Hey, everyone!" X shouted. He came to a screeching halt moments later, a pair of meta-alloy handcuffs in dangling loosely in his grip.

"Signas just sent word. Here, Blues, you cuff him with these. I'll hit the lock, and Forte you..." Before X could finish, Allure had already disabled the lock. Zero simply pushed the door open and stood there in the hallway. All eyes save Zero's slowly turned on Allure.

"What? You were gonna make the lock click anyway. And I trust him, Uncle X, just as much as I trust Forte." Allure answered to the blank stares. Forte seemed to smile lightly if not blush at the comparison, whereas Zero reached up with one hand to scratch the small tingling sensation rising up on his face. Both knew how fondly and with such courage the child spoke of and defended the other with.

X regained his composure a few moments later.

"Well...uh... Oh, alright...! Hold out your hands, Zero."

* * *

-----

The argument raging inside Signas' office seemed more like a battleground without weapons. It was the silent Forte, loudmouth Blues, heroic X, and short tempered Caroline, all against the brick wall of Signas' will. Meanwhile, outside of the office, Allure involuntarily winced with every fist pounded or foot kicked against a desk. She looked over at Zero, whose hands were cuffed.

"Want me to make the lock click on those? They look pretty un-comfy." Allure tried. She winced as she heard her mother's voice echo out something very foul in a language Allure had yet to be introduced to.

"Nah. They may be annoying, but it's best I keep them on. We want Signas to trust me. With these off, he might consider me a threat." Zero replied. This time it was his turn to wince as the wall directly behind his head received a pounding. Slowly, he decided to cut in and make his point clear for himself.

"Can you make the lock click on Signas' door, though?" Allure looked up at him in confusion.

"Yeah, why?" An echoing bang was heard throughout the room.

"They can't seem to get him to hear anything they're saying. So, I'm going to speak for myself." Another miniature explosion of wits and anger snapped through the door.

"Okay. Just don't get killed trying to get them to calm down." Allure giggled, though it seemed more depressed than jubilant. She jumped off the bench gracefully and approached the lock. Zero stood at the door.

"Ready?"

Zero simply nodded, trying hard to keep the anxiety down. Allure hit a single button, and the door opened, admitting a flying paperweight into the hallway. Zero's eyes went wide, and he just barely managed to duck in time to avoid a killer headache. Allure let loose a small whistle, for whomever had thrown that paperweight had thrown it with enough force to have it become lodged in the wall behind Zero. Zero gulped upon noticing that it was Caroline whom had provided the momentum for the paperweight.

"Suddenly, this is feeling like a very bad idea..." Zero gulped. Despite his fears, he swallowed and entered. Allure shut the door behind him.

Signas' office was a bright, well lit, almost gold-plated room, and his desk was just as bright if not brighter than the room itself. Signas was in his normal general-style uniform, only with his hat resting askew on a hat hook on his desk. The Reploid in charge, who had been sitting down in his chair, stood to his full daunting height of well over six feet.

"I understand you are Maverick Hunter Rockman Zero?"

"Yes,"

"And you wish to defect to the Maverick Resistance, Hunter?" The way Signas echoed out those words only confirmed Zero's understanding that he had a lot to answer for. He had, after all, been the top Hunter for nearly twenty years. That alone should have told him he had more than his fair share of sins.

"Yes."

The question he halfway dreaded came to light. Signas' eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward so that he was all but in Zero's face.

"Why?"

_Well, time to tell it like it is..._ Zero sighed to himself.

"I wish to defect, sir, because I despise and loath my creator with a newfound passion. He hid from me the ability to influence and direct my own destiny, a birthright to both humans and Reploids, and directed me like a puppeteer directs his prized puppet to destroy those who would stand against him. I want to at least put my own soul to rest on what I've done in the past." Zero answered truthfully. He had thrown in the 'sir' as show of respect. He could tell by the look in Signas' eyes that the commander still doubted his word.

"And what, exactly, awoke this ability to 'influence and direct' your own destiny, Hunter?" Signas lifted his coffee cup to his lips. Bad move.

"Allure,"

Signas just about spit out the coffee he was in the midst of swallowing.

"Explain!"

"You yourself authorized her to visit me in my cell for approximately four hours and forty five minutes yesterday. During that conversation, Allure brought to light the fact my sentient program had been left inactive and also set me straight on a position I held about humans."

"Which was?" This time the question came from the comparatively gentler voice of Caroline.

"That humans are weak." Zero semi-chucked at the memories the conversation brought on.

"She agreed yet disagreed with my statement. I'm halfway surprised she's just a three year old after the argument she put up yesterday. She argued that, physically, humans were the weaker group. However emotionally, they measured equal and at times stronger than their Reploid counterparts. That argument, coupled with the fact I didn't want to her to cry for me because my emotions had been hidden away, lead me to run a system diagnostic search on my hard drive for the sentient program data. After finding it, activating it, and then applying the newfound feelings it awoke within me to my memories, I've come to loath my creator." Zero took a deep breath before locking his eyes in Signas' towering stare.

"I'll be blunt. I want that bastard dead for what he did to me."

Signas slowly sank deep into his chair. After seeing the truth reflecting in Zero's eyes, he had little choice but to agree with his statement. Zero did indeed want what the rest of this base did. He wanted that fat... Well, there was no need to spoil his coffee with foul words. The point was Zero was telling the truth.

"...One month..."

"Sir?" X questioned lightly. Signas took a sip of his coffee before repeating his decision aloud.

"He shall be kept under observation and handcuffed for one month. If he doesn't try to pull anything that could be considered harmful to this base or the members of the Maverick Resistance, he shall be allowed to join us in combat. However, even with the combat allowance added in, he shall still be strictly observed for a grand total of several years. I'll keep the exact number to myself as a precaution. When he is not in combat during this second phase, he shall be required to wear those same handcuffs. And those, might I add, are lock-clicking proofed." Signas eyed Zero. The latter looked as if he had just run a marathon with half the world tied to his back.

"For that total of one month while he is under heavy observation, I'd like Forte to keep an eye on him."

"Wait just a second, Signas!" Caroline jumped in here, "Forte's assigned to Allure!"

"Which in turn makes Allure assigned to Zero," Forte whispered. He smiled lightly to himself. So Signas _was_ listening to his report about Allure's trust in Zero.

"Correct. If this Hunter is truly honest with his words, then he will not hurt Allure. That, and Allure's the only person on base everyone trusts and would protect without hesitation, adding yet another layer of security to monitor the Hunter. And she's also the only one that has yet to carry her own weight."

"Excuse me! She's just a child!"

"And we're at war! My apologies Caroline, but there's no way around it." Signas countered.

"Dismissed!"

Caroling instantly went into a cursing spree in foreign languages. She stopped for a second to look at her daughter, then stormed off towards her lab. Blues and X exchanged a look.

"Forte, you explain what's going on." Blues ordered.

Forte simply nodded his head to the two Commanders. They were quickly gone down the hallway after their cursing sister. They knew better than to think she'd break her hand or something; however, both had a habit of erring on the side of caution, especially when their fleshy sister was in one of _those_ kinds of moods.

Allure exchanged a confused look with Forte and Zero. The both of them seemed to sigh. How could they explain to a three year old that she'd just been put on active duty?

* * *

-----

Zero snapped awake in the middle of the night. His mind was a whirl of confusion, his emotions running ramped. He quickly looked down at his hands. To his relieve, he found them still to be their familiar white color and still locked up in handcuffs.

"Mr. Zero?" Allure's soft voice echoed. Zero looked quickly over at her. He released another sigh when he saw it was her and her alone standing at his bedside.

"Mr. Zero, are you okay? You were practically yelling in your sleep." Zero shook his head slightly.

"I don't know, Allure..." Zero whispered. Allure pushed herself so that she was sitting next to him in his bed. She wrapped her arms around his. For some reason this made him blush a light crimson hue.

"Whenever I start yelling in my sleep, Forte says I'm having a nightmare. Did you have a nightmare, Mr. Zero?"

Zero seemed to think deeply on that. He had never had a dream before, and yet the visions that had plagued him were too gruesome to be what his internal dictionary defined a dream as.

"...I...I think so... I've never even had a dream before..." Zero answered.

"Want to talk about it? It always helps when I talk about my nightmares with Forte." Allure explained lightly. Zero somehow managed to make it so that he could gently pat her hand without moving his arms too much.

"I think it's best if I talk about this with Forte alone." Zero whispered.

A shadow came across the room. Zero wasn't at all surprised that Forte had appeared as if he were nothing more than a shadow; after all, the Reploid had a habit of showing up whenever he so much as heard his name. Forte gently eased the girl back to her bed. He had to use the dreaded threat of telling both X and her mother that she was staying up past her bedtime just to get her out the door. Forte closed the door after her, staying still for a few moments.

"Alright, she's not listening." Forte sighed. Zero looked down at his hands. Forte noticed this with his usual emotionless glance.

"If you truly wish to tell me about your nightmare, please start talking."

Zero involuntarily shivered, not from the cold, but from what he remembered of the dream. He stared intently down at his hands.

"...My hands were covered in blood... He was laughing at me, saying I was his perfect puppet and... She was dead..." Zero stated bluntly. Forte nodded in some secret understanding.

"I see. I, too, was plagued by similar nightmares when I first awoke." Zero looked over towards Forte, a confused expression easily readable upon his face. Forte sighed.

"I was at one time under Wily's control, as well. I was never able to find out how Dr. Cossack did it, but he was able to deactivate me and install the sentient program. When I awoke here, in MHQ, Allure was but a small infant that had followed a wish. Fate led her to the room I was stationed at. Just in time, too, for if I had awakened without some kind of company I might not have been found even to this day.

"For days I learned of what had happened. And for nights, I was plagued by the same nightmare of my hands being stained with my creator's blood. But one night, they stopped. I came to terms with the fact he had given me a second chance. If he had willing done so, then he would have forgiven me for my crimes. I had a mission to fulfill."

"To protect Allure," Zero cut in. Forte nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes. My willingness to fulfill that mission is something I think would make my creator proud. I would assume that since your creator is the man you loath, what would ease your own nightmare-ridden conscious is to come to terms with your creation. I believe Blues put it best when he said you're a stubborn jackass that likes to follow only one rule: Your own word is your own law." Forte stood up form his position across from Zero.

"And to be blunt, I think he's right."

Zero casually snickered at that. To be honest, he rather liked the definition of himself Blues had found. It fit like the proverbial glove. Seeing as his trick had worked, Forte exited the room, leaving Zero to his own thoughts.

Yes... Zero had to admit it. He was a stubborn jackass. Every last bit of his programming told him so. And something told him that Allure wouldn't have him be any other way.


	4. Chapter 3: Ultima

Nope, never played X4; I started playing with X7, and I never beat that one. _smirk_

For all of you (three or four) people that are actually finding my story interesting, I present to you a slightly odd semi-pointless battle scene! The first in the whole story! Everybody say woot!

_Cricket chirp_

Um...yeah... Well then, on with the show! And yeah, because this is a fight scene, there will be plenty blood, but it's not too heavy on the gore part, so it kinda balances itself out... Kinda.

* * *

_**Salvation**_

Chapter 3: Ultima

* * *

Considering the fact that Maverick base was stationed on the outermost reaches of an inhospitable desert, it was amazing what beauty could be found on the northernmost tip of base property. Where the metal ended and nature began there seemed to be a lull in time. In this lull was a small stream of crystal clear drinking water surrounded by what looked to be ten foot thick fields of flowers.

Zero simply watched Allure play, his breath taken by the beauty of the place. Activating his free thought and emotions had come at a price – namely the nightmares that haunted him from time to time – but the cost seemed well worth it to simply sit here and be able to understand why humans loved the small specs of white called flowers.

Zero's eyes narrowed as a cloud began to form on the horizon. He focused as close to the storm's front edge as possible. And his results left him no other choice than to curse, hard.

"Allure, back inside, now." Zero ordered. Allure stopped for a second. She'd seen Zero shift through many a mood swing over the past three weeks; however, suddenly taking on Forte's role was one she had not expected.

"How come?"

A plasma blast exploded near her left.

"Because of that," Zero answered deadpan. Allure's eyes looked down into the gaping hole, and did the only thing which came to mind. She gulped. Looking back up at her crimson protector, she smiled lightly.

"I guess somebody forgot to feed his pets."

Zero's eyes were locked too deep within the coming sea of battle Reploids to catch the smile accompanying the war-born joke.

"Come on." he ordered. Allure quickly took his hand, and before long, she was being carried in his still handcuffed arms, plasma blasts littering the field around her. Once inside, she was dropped to the ground in a somewhat dainty-less manner.

"And that was the last garden too..." Allure pouted.

"Hey, Zero!"

Zero's eyes snapped up to find one of the younger Reploids that seemed to have grown fond of his strength of character and legendary fighting skills racing towards him. The boy tossed him a single silver-wrapped, four prong electric key.

"Signas' orders! He wants the base evacuated, and he wants it done ten minutes ago. Me, you, and ah couple other choice members from other units are going to be going out as decoys. We're to hold them off till the humans and medical staff is underway, then warp to the secondary location."

"Lucky you, probation came earl-y!" Allure did not have time to finish her sentence as Forte suddenly appeared out of no where. He hoisted her up in his arms, a feat that Allure was far too used to by now.

"Good luck," Was all he had time to say before the walls blockading the desert from the base exploded into shrapnel. Zero put his hands up in a defensive move, blocking his face and torso from receiving a deadly impalement. Forte simply vanished in a burst of speed, leaving the familiar, echoing question in the back of Zero's mind. Exactly how fast, and more importantly, how strong _was_ Forte, really?

The Reploid youth that had stood besides Zero seemed to be just as lucky, though under different circumstances, for he had had the body of a former ally, headless and unrecognizable, to block the blows. The youth's face notably turned a shade greener.

"First live fight?" Zero questioned. He, having been the cause of many such fatalities, was used to the sight. Absentmindedly, he thanked whatever divine power watching over Allure for sparing her the sight of the already bloody battle. His thoughts were interrupted by the young Reploid turning over and barfing out what little bit of fluid he had in his artificial stomach.

"Y-Yeah..." the boy whispered, whipping his mouth clean with the back of his hand.

Zero took a few moments to acquaint himself with his new battle ally. He was young, perhaps around twelve years of activation time at the very most. He only had what appeared to be half a helmet that covered only his forehead with its centerpiece being a large blue glass gem. His red-orange hair was done in a combination rat nest/spiked style, giving Zero the impression that he was normally a laid-back type of boy. The boy's primary deep royal blue, almost black armor was indistinguishable from his light silver body suit, making it look as if he wore one single suit of armor. He did have some alternative colorings, though, in the form of a crimson red vertical stripe that started at his shoulders and continued down to his boots and white gloves over his hands.

The boy's now frightened bright green eyes looked up at Zero.

"I...I think I know him... Or, uh, knew him..."

Zero tossed the handcuffs aside. A single mental thought later and his saber was in his hands, its ire green glow adding another layer of sickly color to the boy's face.

"Are... Are you really _the_ demon? The one that slew a thousand Mavericks in one strike, and took down the best Maverick of them all, Sigma?"

"Sigma was a fool trying to overcompensate for something I'd rather not go in to now. How old are you?" Zero's question made he boy sit back in shock.

"Uh...um... Five years fully active. Uh, I mean..."

"Just call me Zero." Zero ordered the boy. So this kid was just a year older than Allure? Something about that seemed wrong to Zero -- he'd have to have a talk with one of Allure's uncles as soon as he got to standby base one.

"Get up, stop staring, and stay close."

The boy got to his feet slowly, Zero's words not yet having time to take effect.

"Stay close?!" the boy echoed.

Another explosion echoed out before them. A piece of stone as large as a semi flew towards the two. Zero cleaved it into quarters in what looked like one slice, easily disarming the threat. The boy's eyes were wide on Zero as he turned back to face him.

"Stay. Close." He repeated, this time with a firm commanding tone hidden deep within his voice. "And," he stopped again, turning back to face the shaky boy, "What's your name?"

"A-Axl, sir... I...I'm assigned to Maverick Unit Three..." Axl was too scared to wonder why he stated which unit he belonged in, he just did.

"Weapons?" Zero said this as he cleaved an attacking battle Reploid in half, cutting it neatly down the middle and forming two perfect 'V's from its once solid 'W' shaped control matrix. Axl was snapped back to reality when Zero snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"L-Low caliber mark two... m-mega buster..." and as proof, he shakily summoned the weapon to his hand. Zero released a sigh at the boy's crowdedness.

"Why are you on the defense team and not with the evacuees?" His demand seemed to strike a nerve within the young boy.

"I am not going to allow those bastards," he paused so as to seemingly blindly fire his weapon into several advancing enemies' head units, sufficiently killing them all with one shot per 'bot, "To live with what they've done to this world! It used to be just like that little garden, the whole globe filled with flowers and beauty, and then these jackasses had to come in and ruin it!"

Zero arched an eyebrow at the boy for, combined with his own natural combat skills, the duo had slain at least twenty of the attackers.

"So that's why he sent you to the front line." Zero whistled.

"Huh?" Axl, notably lost, blinked.

"You just killed about ten," as he spoke Axl let off another panicked shout and shot down yet another enemy, "Make that eleven Wilybots during our little chat."

And during this same chat, the duo had progressed so that they were standing in the ruins of what had been the garden Allure had occupied only a few short moments ago. The place was no longer a model of heaven; it was more like a model of hell complete with fireballs and a pitchfork wielding sadist. And if you were to count Zero, the count would then be two weapon holding sadists and one innocent five year old boy in a twelve year old boy's body.

The sadist in question was a towering powerhouse of fire and brimstone. Full body armor the color of fresh-spilled blood, the skull of a giant ram serving as his helmet, and what looked like the pelt of the giant ram with the flesh sill attached to the fur draping off his shoulders, mixing with the blood of the dead and dying that flowed in place of the pristine river. His weapon of choice was a simple pitchfork. It was only upon closer inspection that the pitchfork was reviled to truly be a 'W' shaped branding iron glowing so hot, a volcano looked cooler. At full height, the being towered above even Signas, and his branding iron was at least two feet taller than he was. The sadist's width was almost equal to his height.

Axl gulped, backing up slightly in an effort to escape the shadow of the monster. Zero held his ground. He knew this opponent, seeing as he had once fought alongside him for a grand total of twenty years.

"Hold your ground, kid." Zero whispered back.

"A-A-Are you k-k-kidding?!" Axl gulped. Zero didn't blame the boy for being scared. This was, after all, his first battle. The sadist released a booming laugh that muted the cries of the dying around him.

"Zero, old fool! You managed to escape I see! Sorry about the delay, buddy, but we had a hell of a time tracking you."

"Shut up, Demos." Zero barked. Demos seemed taken aback.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I said shut up. You are a fat old fool working for," Zero glanced back at Axl, who was currently exchanging worried looks between the giant and the demon, and decided to substitute his vocabulary of choice with, "An old mental Fart that deserves to rot like that ram skin you have a habit of bloodying up."

"Ah, Zero old pall, that hurts! Here I am, coming on Master Wily's direct orders to come and get you out of these pipsqueaks' company, and that's what you say to me?"

Demos easily reached over and flicked Axl in the head with his forefinger. The boy's helmet came flying off as if it had wings of its own, and Axl himself went skidding back at lest ten feet.

"I feel almost betrayed!"

"Then you can tell that old Fart my decision is made." Zero's eyes narrowed. He quickly moved back next to the struggling Axl, positioning himself directly in front of the addled boy.

_Oh great_, Axl thought to himself, _I am going to die. He's gone turn-coat again, hasn't he? The demon's going to slay me like he did Sigma..._

"I'm a Maverick now."

Axl's head snapped up to stare shocked holes into the back of Zero's helmet. Had the demon really just said that aloud? Apparently the goliath sadist had the same reaction as Axl.

"...You want to repeat that, buddy?"

Zero's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, and for a split second they seemed to glow blood red.

"I. Am. A. Maverick."

Zero lashed into action while the echo of his words played across the field. His sword was high above his head, just waiting for a chance to drink in the blood of the former ally. His jump was poorly calculated, either that or he had been too confident in his abilities to remember Demos' weak spot, for when he was only an inch away from the monstrosity's head, a giant hand came up and backhanded him as if he was nothing more than an annoying fly. The Demon Hunter went flying through the air like a robin without wings, and landed like a rock ten feet behind Axl. And he didn't move once from the imprint-shaped hole he left in the ground.

Axl stared, wide eyed. Demos slowly stomped towards him. The giant picked his steps carefully, insuring that the bodies of both friends and foes littering the ground were crunched with the same maniacal, repetitive sound under the heel of his giant foot.

"You," Demos' voice echoed through Axl's ears.

_Well, Axl, you got yourself into this mess. Now stand up and take it like a Reploid!_ Axl cheered himself on while meekly getting up to his feet. Another step forced him to add, _Either that or take it like a mouse and run!_

He couldn't, Axl realized with some great horror. His escape was blocked off by over a thousand of the remaining battle troops surrounding him and what appeared to be the corpse of Zero. Fear was the only weapon he had left.

"If you renounce the Maverick Rebellion and reveal the cause of my buddy's illness, I'll let you live." Demos echoed. He came closer to the dark blue ant with every towering step.

Axl stood for a moment. His right hand still clenched the low caliber megabuster in its shaking grip. He was without his helmet, without way to retreat, and without hope. Something within him seemed to rise, to break free of a long, drawn out five year prison of domesticity and silence, at these revelations. Hell, if the Demon Hunter had managed to stand without fear so could he!

As if the demon himself heard the boy's thoughts, Zero stirred in his self-made grave.

"No."

Demos stopped. Zero stirred again.

"What was that, little man?"

"I said no." Axl hid his eyes from the giant.

"Maybe I should refresh your memory. The last and best hope you had of leaving here alive just died in one hit! Everyone else in this pathetic base is dead! Dead, you hear me?!" Demos' furry was second only to the burning power that echoed through Axl's eyes when he revealed them. Demos seemed taken aback at the furry coming from the imp at a strength that rivaled his own.

"That's where you're right, and where you're wrong!"

"...A-Allure...?" Those familiar words caused Zero to struggle to a sitting position just in time to catch the last of Axl's short speech.

"I may not be the toughest guy in the force, but I'm still a fighter through and through! Die, jackass!!" Axl lifted his blaster up towards the brute's head, the same spot Zero had targeted, and opened relentless fire. Demos stood unfazed.

"Die, pipsqueak!"

The branding iron came down full force. It landed between Axl's eyes, embedding the tip of the upside-down 'W' in the center of his forehead. Steam poured forth as the mark was branded, arching down near the boy's eyes and burrowing itself deep within the flesh of his forehead. Axl released a shrill scream of echoing pain, the force of the attack finally shoving him off the iron. He skidded across the ground, somehow managing to stay on his feet the whole while. His hands plastered his forehead, covering the still red hot mark as if in an effort to both confirm the source of his pain and force it to cool.

All this while, within the mind of the demon, a small four year old human girl was taking the damage instead of the twelve year old looking boy. Right as Axl's scream pierced his ears, the image was replaced with reality. Reploid blood was seen trickling down Axl's arms, escaping through the crack in his fingers. He dropped his weapon as he slowly sank to the ground. Once on his knees, he sat their, motionless, pressing both hands against his face to swallow the sobs of pain that threatened to escape him.

"**_NO!!_**"

Zero was upon his feet in a matter of seconds. A blood red aura pierced his armor, dyeing it a true blood red hue. His hair turned an even lighter blond, now looking more bleach blond than true blond. And his eyes, and the fire they carried within them... Axl dared to push his fingers back just long enough to see through red tint that the demon now truly looked his namesake, blood red eyes and all.

"Demos! Your fight was with me, not with the boy!"

Demos moved back in complete and total fear.

"You should know better than all the other Generals combined that I do _not_ die in single hit combat! Stunned for a time, yes, but **_I never die in single hit combat!_**"

"Ah shit... He's using his Ultima form..." Demos whispered. Axl watched in painful awe as the changing Zero stomped forward with the wrath and furry of the Lord of Hell himself.

"And now, Demos, you have royally pissed me off!!" Zero's saber returned to his hand. It ignited once again, this time burning through its base in a true blood red glow.

"Y-You can't get pissed off! You...You can't even access that form without...without...!" Demos stammered back in shock.

"Without a command to do so, or emotions to guide my rage, is that what you're trying to say?" Zero's face split into a truly sadist grin.

"It's about time you noticed a difference, you big fat bastard! A difference in me that goes far deeper my flesh, coming straight from the very marrow of my awakened soul. You can tell Wily that his toy puppet just cut his own strings."

Demos' fat mouth had gotten him into the most dangerous situation he had ever entered in. The Demon Zero was before him in one flash, then behind him in the next. A giant bowling ball formed from what used to be a head wearing the skull of a giant ram for a helmet was suddenly plopped at the giant's feet, and a brand new river of blood turned the soil and even redder shade of blood brown.

"I promised myself that one day I'd clean his mouth out." Zero snickered to himself. He replaced the saber back in the charging unit over his left shoulder. Then, like a lightning bolt from hell, Axl's quick but soft yip of pain as he tried to finger the extent of his first battle wound yet again caught his attention.

"Ah crap, Axl!"

How exactly Zero had managed to cover over twenty feet in less than two seconds without warping later astounded the boy. At the present moment, Axl was too busy trying to hold back further tears of pain for two major reasons. One: even though his tears had no salt, they still hurt like hell in an open wound. Two: crying was for babies, and with the demon himself standing before him, Axl was not about to look like a baby.

Zero's somehow gentle hands slowly grasped his own. Axl pushed his hands tighter against his face.

"Axl, let me see it." Axl locked his arms into place.

"N-No...It... It isn't that bad..."

Zero instantly knew that the boy was crying. With Axl being a typical young boy, crying was seen as 'girly' and an act of being a 'cry baby'. Axl obviously had yet to factor into the equation that he had been hit in the head by a branding iron glowing at full power.

"Axl, you were branded with Demos' branding iron. Not even I could take that kind of punishment without screaming my head off like a little girl. You're tougher than I am for just being able to stand up after taking that kind of a hit to the face." Zero explained calmly. His words seemed to work, and slowly Axl revealed his eyes. They were red with tears of pain, thankfully nothing more and nothing less.

"R-Really? You...You're not just saying that to get me to take my hands off? A-Are you...?" Axl whispered. Up close and personal, the changed Zero looked to Axl like a red eyed bleached blond haired angel of death. A kind, heroic angel of death, called down to the mortal plane to help instead of take away.

"No, Axl, I'm not. Now let me see that wound." Zero answered truthfully.

"O-Okay... But if it's a wimpy wound, promise you won't tell anybody I...c-cried?" Axl's hands were pulled down before he got his answer.

"Axl,"

"Yeah?"

"If anybody calls this wimpy, tell them to see me and I will personally define wimpy with my own version of kicking their arise."

"But...but that'd kill 'em... Wouldn't it?"

"Compared to how this looks, dying by loss of blood is a wimpy way to die."

Axl's face notably palled, although it was hard tell through all the blood smeared over the boy's wound. In all truth, only half of the iron had left its mark, creating a surprisingly even 'V' mark on his forehead. How he had managed to doge the remainder of the mark, Zero did not know and frankly did not care. He took his blessings where he got them, especially when it came to Demos' iron. Axl had second degree burn marks and third degree burn marks leading from the edge of his nose straight up to the point of the upside-down 'V'. The point itself seemed to be the worst. A hole had been ripped open in his forehead with the point of the iron, making it akin to something close to a zero, or worse than first, degree burn coupled with a small river of blood racing down the burns and straight towards his chin.

"We need to get you looked at. Now." Zero's voice left no room for argument.

"M-My helmet?"

Axl's request was more like a question in regards to the condition of the ill-fated item. Zero noticed it lying a few feet away. He got up, quickly retrieved it, and returned. Axl winced. The jewel in the center had been smashed to simple pieces of glass. However, there was one tiny shard of hope. He reached inside and withdrew a data crystal.

"What's that?" Zero questioned.

"A-A data recording...of..." Axl gulped.

"Of?"

"...Personal...things..." Axl explained.

"So long as it's not questionable content, I won't confiscate it." Zero sighed.

"It's not! And besides, you don't really have the authority to confiscate it." Axl countered.

"I do if I tell one of Allure's uncles." At the blank looked he added, "Commander X and Commander Blues." The reaction was a simple gulp of fear. "Right. Can you transmit a message saying we're about to warp?" Axl slowly opened a panel on his left arm. He punched a few buttons before closing the panel again.

"...O-Okay..." Axl was beginning to feel exhaustion taking its toll on him. He'd be a wimp if he passed out now. Never mind the fact he was suffering from sever burns and loss of blood.

"Hang in there, kid." Zero returned to normal just as the warp began.

"Hang in there..."

* * *

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Iniora: My explanation for Axl's scar.

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!!**_


	5. Chapter 4: Proposition

Hello there, to the one person who actually reviewed and the handful (if even that many) of people who read my stories and never review (though I really whish you would). This chapter's been a long-time coming, and well... Since my editor was as swamped with homework as I was recently, the delay has been, to be blunt, fantastic.

Well, anyway. This chapter has no action what-so-ever, though if you read all the paragraphs, you'll find some nice sarcastic humor.

Right then, on the with the chapter and...

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!**_

__

* * *

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_**Salvation**_

_Chapter 4: Proposition_

* * *

There was only one thing Caroline had say when the remaining survivors of the defense team warp-landed in secondary base one.

"Holy Lord Above, what the hell happened to him?"

Axl winced under the scrutiny.

"Direct hit with Demos' iron." Zero explained bluntly. Axl again sniffled. He was going to be treated like a little kid... again.

"A what kind of hit with who's iron!?" Commander Blues' voice echoed around the room like a banshee's wail echoing in an enclosed cavern.

_Please don't let me start crying. Please don't let me start crying..._ Axl's thoughts echoed like a broken record. Unfortunately, his body had other plans, leaving him to sniffle back the tears as best he could.

"A direct hit, in the face, with Demos' iron, and he only now started acting like he was going to cry." Zero explained. Blues could tell he was lying. X, who had just entered the room, could tell Axl had been crying far before his entrance all but draped over Zero's shoulder. And Allure yet again showed she was more than just a simple four year old.

"I'm surprised he had the guts to hold it in that long! Hey, mommy, when I'm old enough to start dating guys around my age, can I go out with him? I don't want a cry baby taking me out on my first date." Allure giggled. Axl somewhat stared at the child, his eyes misty yet still full of wonder. Allure's mother caught the look her older brother gave her from under his visor.

"Well, that depends. Dating material consists of two things. One: the man can only be a maximum of ten years older than you. Two: that man still has to be alive and in good favor with all parties involved." Caroline smiled.

"And number two seems to be in jeopardy." X teased lightly. He swung Axl's left arm around his neck, heaving the boy's weight off Zero.

"Come on. I know a great mechanic than can have yah fixed up in no time. Hey, she might even through in a free armor upgrade if you're nice and cooperate with her."

"R-Really," Axl quickly realized who he was talking to and added, "sir?"

"Just call me X. What did you say your name was again?" X questioned, keeping in careful mind to avoid calling the boy just that in fear of bruising his ego. The boy had no idea how lucky he was to simply be functional, and doubly lucky to be awake with such intense burns and blood loss.

"A-Axl, sir... Um... I mean X..." Axl answered. He refused to allow his fatigue to get the better of him, and by doing so nearly fell asleep halfway to the medical ward. Seeing his brother's plight in getting the child halfway down the five foot long hallway, Blues slipped under on the boy's opposite side.

"Hey, so you managed to stand up to old charcoal-for-brains, eh? You've got guts. Either that or you are incredibly stupid, pal. I even run away from the guy." Blue laughed. His jokes managed to raise a small smile from Axl.

"Uh, I think it was the latter, Commander..." The conversation did its trick. Axl staid somewhat awake right up until he was dumped into a repair bed.

"Now you just shut down and get a good rest, Axl. I'm sure Caroline will have you up and running in no time flat." X smiled.

"Yeah, and I heard she might even have some extra armor upgrades in the works she could toss in for yah." Blues laughed. Axl was too far gone for that to reach his ears. "Well what do you know? First time somebody's fallen asleep while I'm talking."

"Yeah, with the racket you make?" X laughed teasingly.

"Hey!"

"Alright you two, out," Caroline's demanding voice echoed through the room. She turned to look at her daughter, smiling, "Allure, you were very nice to that young boy. Saying you'd go on a date with him and all, it really perked him up."

"Well, Mr. Zero seemed to think he needed perking, and his head does look pretty badly bashed." Allure let out a little whistle.

"I'd say. Allure, how about you go help out with Zero's repairs? Oh, and tell him I'd like to know exactly what he thought of the boy in combat. He might just be the one..." And Caroline was gone from the world, lost in a sea of her own thoughts.

"Yes, mamma!"

Allure was only a slight bit hyper at the chance to help with repairs. This being a slight bit for a four year old, which at any other age would have been seen as a full on hyper-mode. Needless to say she almost got lost twice, she was in such a giggle fit. Forte gently pushed her in the right direction, trailing her like a dutiful dog trailing its loving master. No one dared to call the caring Reploid the equivalent of a hound to his face though. Well, not unless it was someone with a death wish.

Zero was in the medical ward, handcuffs off and demeanor the same as if he had just woken up from a long nap -- not necessarily cranky, but not exactly tolerable, either. His attitude, the medics working on him quickly noted, did a complete one hundred and eight degree turnaround the moment Allure's whistle reached hearing range.

"Hi, Michel!" Allure was on first name basses with all known medical and repair personal. It came from her habit of making the locks click when she wasn't supposed to down in the medical wing.

"Hello there, little Allure. Caroline send you down here to check up on this red dude?"

Michel was generally a peppy human male, with wild red hair stripped with orange hair dye. He wore the typical Reploid-support medic uniform – a plain white jumpsuit with a single star colored in indication of which unit the medic responded to located on the left shoulder. His right shoulder was decorated with his rank – five stripes to indicate Michel was the head medical officer. Taking in his rank plus the solid black star on his left shoulder announced Michel as the head of the newly formed Maverick Unit #0's Reploid-support medic squad. The others around him, all of which had the Maverick Unit #0's insignia, had at most two stripes, with a rare few new recruits sporting no stripes at all.

"She said I could help, too!" Allure giggled. Zero's eyes bolted over to look at Forte, who simply smiled lightly and nodded his head. Zero took this as either a 'what she is saying is true and she's actually good' or 'you're doomed and I'm just going to watch you suffer for the hell of it'. Zero was not the kind of Reploid to pray, however this situation was a unique occasion.

"Ah, that's okay kid-o! You can watch us work, though." Michel smiled.

Allure was content with watching them work. For obvious reasons, only the males were allowed to watch as Zero's full armor was removed. Allure was allowed to watch again after a few checks had been made and Zero's lower armor had been substituted with a pair of on-loan short blue jeans. This did not make Zero any more comfortable, for he found the blue jean material itched. That and he had to keep so still it felt like being back in the middle of a fistfight was a calmer place to be.

He allowed himself a deep breath of relief when Michel's medical unit was final finished with repairs. Zero wasted no time in attempting to get his armor back.

"No can do, red dude." Michel sighed, "Your armor's got more dings, dents, and holes in it than a Ride Chaser after a motor derby. It's sticking here 'til it's repaired."

"But...But what am I supposed to wear in the meantime? I've never worn anything besides that armor!" Zero countered, his voice close to a juvenile wine in protest.

"Dude. Chill. It's not like you can't barrow some of his cloths. You're both practically the same size." Michel's hand went straight to Forte. Forte instantly tried to duck out.

"Yeah, Forte! Would you mind lending Zero your old jump pants and red t-shirt?" Allure questioned innocently. Forte opened his mouth to protest, took one look at her, and shut his mouth again.

"Follow me, Zero..." Forte sighed. Zero was extremely glad to find that Forte's room was no more than half a foot away from the repair bay. He was tossed a pair of black sweat pants made from a material that created an echo when it chafed together, a red t-shirt, and a white vest.

"Put them on, fast, before I change my mind and hand you the sweater I got for Christmas hand knitted by Caroline herself." Forte sighed.

"Caroline knits?" Zero blinked, all the while getting dressed in Forte's private wash closet. One look at the ball of yarn that was supposed to be a sweater, and Zero ducked his own questioned.

"Never mind,"

"Good idea," Forte sighed yet again. He took one more look at Zero, then added, "And no handcuffs. You proved yourself in that fight. Handcuff restrictions are now off."

Zero just sighed at this. He didn't care – the cuffs were annoying anyway.

"...So how's Axl?" Zero questioned once Allure was again standing by his side.

"Oh, that reminds me! Zero, mommy wanted to talk to you. She wants your honest opinion about Axl's fighting abilities." Allure giggled, having almost forgotten the message her mother's message.

"And that reminds me, I need to speak with X or Blues at their next convenience." Zero sighed. He tried to keep his annoyance at the topic of debate an inward expression, but somehow it wormed out enough for Forte to pick up on it.

"About?"

"About the fact Axl has been fully active a grand total of five years."

"What?!"

This news sent Allure jumping.

"He's only a year older than me? For real?! Ah cool!" Allure was suddenly no longer besides the two adults. Forte raised his hand to his temple.

"And there she goes, the Eighth Wonder of the Maverick Rebellion." Forte huffed lightly, "And these people think I have an easy job keeping an eye on her? Sometimes I wonder if she's really all human, or half a Reploid based on her speed alone."

Zero simply stood there, nodding alongside the child's Guard.

* * *

----

"Oh, about time you two got here. We've just been waiting, what, three hours!" the woman's harsh voice cut through his mind like a needle prodding through the soft spots of his brain. As far as he knew, he was back in his dorm with some new recruit pestering two others about their tardiness.

"...Shut up and let a kid sleep..." Axl moaned. When he tried to roll over in his bed, he found that he couldn't. This puzzled him. He could always, always roll over in his bed; it wouldn't be natural if he couldn't.

So, like any unhappy being, he opened his eyes and prepared to get out of bed. Only, to his great shock, the face of Caroline Light was all but on top of his own.

"Gah!"

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine." Caroline laughed. She leaned back away from him, allowing the forms of the two greatest Commanders in the history of the Maverick Rebellion to fill his vision in her stead. Axl's mind worked double time, and before Caroline could begin again, he was spurting off an apology for his earlier rudeness in telling her to shut up.

"Axl, if you don't shut up, not only will I let the grease monkeys down in the Special Units finish up your repair job, I won't give you an armor upgrade." Caroline stated, her voice somehow sweet while echoing off like ice.

"S-Sorry ma'am!" and he said no more. In fact he even bit down on his tongue to insure that he'd say no more. Like many of Axl's plans, that backfired and he was forced to yip lightly at his own stupidity.

Blues leaned against the repair table Axl was laying on and whispered, "Word of advice: when trying to keep your mouth shut, don't set yourself a reminder by biting down on your tongue. Trust me. It always backfires straight into your face."

"And that's true words of wisdom for you, coming from the blabbermouth himself!" Caroline laughed. Blues instantly stood upright.

"Hey, you ain't exactly known not to have verbiage diarrhea either!" Blues countered. Caroline simply stuck her tong out at him, to which Blues countered by pulling up his visor for half a second and throwing in an eyeball drag-down with a tongue stick out.

"Hey!" X cut in, "Before you two scare the kid into thinking his superiors are insane, could we please get on with business?"

Axl remained silent despite the fact that he severely wanted to shout out he was not a kid. Well, technically, he was still a kid due to his age, and they were, supposedly, his superiors in every way, shape, and form...

"True enough, X." Caroline sighed. She walked back over to Axl. "So, Axl, I got a question for yah."

"Y-yes ma'am?" Axl couldn't help stuttering.

"Just call me Caroline."

"Yes, Caroline?" Something about saying her name without any kind of tag of respect sent what felt like sand down his throat.

"You want a new ability that's finally been cleared for field trial use that's only good with one particular type of Reploid, that particular type being so handsomely you? The armor upgrade comes in the deal free, of course." Caroline explained.

"Sis, you make it sound like he's an experiment." X chided. He gently came into Axl's view and smiled warmly at him. "Axl, what Caroline's trying to say is that you're a little more than just a unique person. You are the preverbal diamond in the ruff. Caroline has been working for half a year on a unique device called the Copy Shot. She'll be the first to admit that the technique is far from perfect, however it is safe and using it causes no side effects whatsoever, mentally or physically."

"I... I still don't see what this has to do with me..." Axl whispered.

"The answer's simple, kid. You're the only one on base with physical properties coming even close to being able to handle the Copy Shot's power." Blues answered instantly.

"I...I am?" Axl questioned blankly. His eyes turned downcast as he added, "But... that can't be right... I'm only ranked as an F Class Maverick at best...and... and the Commander... He said there wasn't a chance in hell I could advance with my performance rating..."

"And exactly which Commander said that, because obviously they missed a great find." Blues questioned. Axl kept his mouth shut.

"I don't want to have to make it an order, kid. You've got potential, potential your Commander should have recognized instantaneously. He should have sent you in for specialized training the moment he laid eyes on you in combat. I got the report on how you handled the fight with the enemy units. And I quote, 'eleven confirmed kills during an explanation of why he was on the defense team'. Do you want to deny a record like that because of some dirt a higher-up rubbed in your face?"

"N-No..." Axl whispered.

"Good. Because you're about to get a chance to throw the insult right back at him."

Axl looked over at Blues slightly.

"...But... What could I have that nobody else on base does? I'm not strong; I'm not that good at anything mental, or with my hands."

"But you got an aim that kills, literally, and your mental readings for multitasking are off the charts!" Caroline laughed. She walked right up to him, smile on her face and all, and said plainly, "Axl, you have the two key skills needed to be able to use the Copy Shot to its full advantage. With a little training from somebody like X, or Blues, or Forte, or hell even Zero! You'd make a great Maverick."

_I have to be dreaming... She just listed off three S-Class Mavericks and the demon as people who would train me. Me! The little drop off from Black Points..._

"But wh-..." Axl's question was cut off by Blues putting his hand over his lips.

"Stop asking and answer the damn question. You in with this Copy Shot plan or what?" Blues removed his hand from Axl's mouth, allowing the boy a chance to get his proverbial bearings straight in silence.

"...I... I guess... I suppose I am..." Axl finally whispered what seemed like an eternity later.

"Great! Axl, make no mistake, you just made the right choice! I'll get started with the armor and Copy Shot upgrades at once!" Caroline all but hopped out of her chair. X and Blues watched with sad eyes.

"Don't worry; she'll be sane when she's upgrading you."

"She better!" Allure's voice cut in through the entrance to the medical lab, " 'Cause I just found out he's only a year older than me! Which makes him the first guy my age to have gone to, and survived, the front line! That and he's on Mr. Zero's good list, which makes him doubly cool to know!"

"Whoa, slow down. How old did you just say he is?" Blues questioned of his niece.

"One year older than me. Five years, in Laymen's terms for those special case," and she conspicuously coughed Blues' name under her breath, "That can't count past two."

Blues glared at her, "I can too count, and that's at least ten years too young for somebody to head out to the front line. Who the hell authorized you to pass Zero his cuff key and fight in decoy duty?"

"T-The Commander, sir..." Axl seemed to shrink back into the table. Although Blues' eyes were hidden, Axl knew quite well that they were staring angry holes into him.

"Name. Now."

"But sir...!" Axl would have sat up to argue had he been able to. "...Sir... C-Commander Red doesn't know how old I am... I panicked when I was out on the field and, instead of telling the Demon the same age I told Commander Red, I told him my real age... Please, if you have to punish someone, punish me..."

Blues seemed to calm down slightly.

"So are you telling me that you've lied about your age since the day you joined the Mavericks?" Blues questioned. Axl slowly nodded his head in affirmative.

"You do realize that there is a stiff penalty for such acts, namely permanent removal from duty." Axl again nodded in the affirmative. To his surprise Blues burst out laughing.

"You hear that, sis? He hasn't even been trained properly and he already knows how to infiltrate and manipulate information inside enemy lines! Heck, if he isn't the right guy for the Copy Shot then I'm a human! No offence, Allure."

"None taken," Allure giggled.

"Uh...one last thing..." Axl whimpered.

"Yes?"

"...How come I can't move?"

His answer came in two parts. One part was from Caroline muttering something about the fact she knew she had forgotten something and the other was from Blues 'gently' whacking his sister upside the head.


	6. Chapter 5: Rain

Well, here yah go. One more chapter for Salvation. I'm still debating a few things with this series, so I have the next chapter or two written...I'm just no sure I'm gonna use them. Still need to figure out a few minor details before everything gets set in stone...

In the mean time... _Please Review!!!_

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* * *

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_**Salvation**_

_Chapter 5: Rain_

* * *

Every last officer was out in force wearing their polished battle armor. Some wore decorations while others wore nothing but the scars of battle which would never heal. They all looked out as one, the higher ranking officers taking front stage before the mass of warriors behind them. Caroline held tightly to her child's hand, almost as if afraid to lose her despite the fact there was no safer place on earth for her. Blues stood to Caroline's left. His hand soon found itself sneaking a small squeeze of security in Caroline's palm. Her tears splashed against towards the ground, making the earth turn the color of blood. Allure stood next to her mother, cradling in her free arm enough flowers to all but smother her from view. And still she would take more as was her duty as the flower keeper.

The order was given. Allure stepped away from her mother, moving so that she was standing in front of the tombstone itself. Riflemen took their marks, bringing the ceremonial pistols into position. X was at the head of the position having wanted to take the saddening and near defining honor himself.

The thunder of the twenty one souls whom had passed on so as to save the thousands who would fight on in name of Freedom was more than a daunting sight. With every shot that echoed off a flower was tossed onto the mass headstone salvaged from the ashes of a mighty, ancient church. A crucifix donning the Star of David with a statue of Buddha reading from the Torah all sat before the giant half-circle grave. A new ribbon of fresh cut flowers had been strung across the half-circle's front. The freshly carved names of the twenty one souls who joined the hundreds of fallen friends seemed to glow in an opaque red reflection.

By end, Allure was left carrying a wrap of twenty one flowers colored as deep a black as could be made without die.

No one needed to give the next order. The crowd snapped to attention all in one single, uniform click. Allure centered the flowers before the headstone, then slowly backed away. She dared not to break ceremony when she turned. The shadow of the headstone cast by the setting sun had finally overtaken her.

It began to rain.

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Zero stood alone before the grave which had gathered so much attention before. His hand clenched the rose thorns, the pricks serving as a not so gentle reminder that this was indeed reality. Though he wished, prayed almost, it was nothing more than another nightmare.

"Are you listening?" Zero asked to no one in particular. The rain whipped down on him relentlessly, losing him in the shadows cast by the mountain camouflage of secondary base one. It looked as though he did not feel the raging torrent at all.

"I know I have no right to be here. I killed just about half of you. But..." Zero lifted the rose up before him. The bud was just beginning to bloom a beautiful blood red.

"I felt so empty this morning, during your ceremony. I didn't even watch. Tell truth, I locked myself up in Allure's room, crying. Me, the Slayer, the Hunter of Mavericks, locked in a little girl's room, crying about your deaths." He looked over at the grave.

"...It's not fair... Damn it, it's not fair!" Zero snapped. The rose found itself imbedded at the foot of the cross directly before the statue of Buddha.

"If anybody should have died, it should have been me! I've got more than my fair share of sins! Half of you were just kids! Just...kids..." He wasn't sure when or how, but he soon found himself on his knees, wrapping his arms tight around himself in a hug.

Blood began to flow from his eyes, clashing against the ground as red raindrops. Tears upon tears, blood upon bones.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder. Zero looked back quickly, his reflexes deadened by the shear emotional trauma. The oddly bright face met his view, accented with a single reverse 'V' shaped scar. Axl smiled down as if he were a guardian angel.

"Hey, Mr. Zero... Couldn't come out to the main ceremony either?" Axl smiled. Zero nodded slowly, looking almost exactly like a dear caught in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler. Axl nodded in understanding.

"Yeah; my Commander was lost in the fight as well. It was... kinda stupid. I never knew he died until after Caroline... upgraded me." The boy sighed, "It didn't seem right to just be another stick in the crowd." Axl moved so that he was sitting in the muck besides Zero, crossing his ankles and leaning his arms against his knees, his hair flying wildly in the wind without the restraint of his helmet. A single tear distinguished itself from the falling rain.

"Hey... I promised myself I wouldn't cry..." Axl chided himself. He brushed away the tear with the back of his hand, casting it aside so that another could take its place. This time, it was Zero's turn to lay a comforting hand on Axl's shoulder.

His single nod was the only signal Axl needed. A second later, and the youth was being supported by the murderer, and the murder supported by the youth. One cried blood while the other added Reploid salt to the poisoned rain.

And the rain flowed on.

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Signas released a long, drawn out sigh of exhaustion. The Special Maverick Unit #0, the very unit he put into existence to help take down the threat Zero had helped create, was currently nothing more than a joke. Maverick Ground Unit Three still needed a new commander, and, to add icing to the cake, his supplies were beginning to dwindle. The cause seemed to have lost its will to continue. Death had just been too hard on them all.

Right as it all seemed to cave in on him the door alarm rang.

"Come in," he sighed. In walked Forte, and Signas had only to look down to find Allure standing at his desk.

"Commander Signas, we're in trouble, aren't we?" Allure questioned. Signas knew it was a better idea to be blunt than to lie, especially to this particular girl.

"Yes, Allure, we are indeed in trouble. Two of our eighteen remaining units are laughing stocks, our supplies are beginning to dwindle, and our will to fight seems to be fading." Signas stood up from his desk. His giant feet echoed across the metal of his silver office as he paced behind his chair.

"Well then, I've only got one thing to say."

"And what might that be?"

"I'll personally pick up the weapon of the first fighter to quit and knock them to a pulp with it."

Signas just kind of stopped and stared. The child's eyes were oddly cold and unwavering.

"Now, Allure, don't be so hasty to take a bloodbath." Signas scolded the child gently.

"Who said anything about a bloodbath? I've got just as much a reason to fight as the next Maverick. All this pain, all this suffering everyone's enduring. It won't end till Wily's power's been cut to ribbons." Allure countered. The chill in her eyes sent a shiver down Signas' spine.

"You said it before, sir. Everyone has to start taking in the slack." Forte cut in. He pulled three slips of paper seemingly out of thin air and held them face up before Signas.

"Promotion requests?" Signas blinked. He took them in hand, flipping through them gingerly. He stopped seconds later, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"Before you even ask, I'm not daft. There's been enough death caused by inaction around here. It's time to pull in the reigns on the Mavericks, Commander. And besides, you did create that division to clean up his mess, did you not? In what better way could he repent for his sins then to reap what he has sown with his own hands." Forte countered.

"But placing..."

"I know he's kinda young... But he's really good at what he does! And Forte could give him some pointers!"

Signas slowly sank back into his chair. He pulled out a single rubber stamp and a pad of red ink.

"Caroline will have my head for this,"

And with that, the seal was placed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The room was well lit. Heavy panting echoed through the hollowed hall in dolling patterns. Anyone else with half a nerve would have left in fear of a ghost haunting the small training ground, but then again, he, nor the source of the panting, was the typical 'anyone'.

Axl stood with both hands firmly gripping the beam saber. His brow was covered in a thin line of sweat, making him feel incredibly itchy under his helmet. He ignored it. He had his training to complete. Zero always made saber work look so easy, so fluent. He'd tried to mimic the Crimson Demon as best he could. Only, the way he was going at it, Axl would sooner have his head off his shoulders than his sword in his enemy's throat.

Close range combat – his single weakness. Red had tried to train him properly with a scythe. The results were less than fantastic. So, taking what little he had learned from Red, he transposed the method over to the saber. He was making less progress than he had originally done with Red.

His senses tightened. On instinct he moved to block a blade that had come straight down. His balance was kicked off in a second, and with an 'oomph' of indignity, he landed flat on his aft, the saber flying straight into a wall. Before Axl had time to regain his bearing, he was being hoisted up to his feet by a familiar white gloved hand.

Zero's eyes met his. Axl gulped. The Demon was obviously not happy with the results.

"Do you honestly want to die?" Zero questioned. Axl did a double take.

"N-No! That's why I'm training to fix my weakness! I'm...not exactly good with close combat..." Axl admitted sheepishly. Zero simply grunted in a 'no duh' kind of fashion. Nevertheless, he released Axl from his piercing glare. The youth quickly reclaimed his saber.

"Move to start position," Axl blinked at Zero oddly. "You heard me."

Axl did as he was told. Seconds later and his feet were being kicked out from under him.

"Wrong," Zero huffed. His hands came across Axl's. The young Reploid did a minor double take as Zero pushed him into a proper position. Once satisfied, Zero backed away. He reignited his own saber, causing Axl to gulp.

"Now, let's try this again."

And the dance was on. Axl attempted many a-time to slice his own hand off, only to be stopped by Zero's blade. When it got a bit too ridiculous, Zero stopped Axl and sighed.

"I'll be blunt. You know absolutely nothing about sabers. But, you do know a thing or two about melee battles. What weapon were you originally trained for?"

"Well I wasn't exactly..." Axl shut up when he saw the cold stair coming down at him yet again. "The scythe,"

It fit. Axl kept swinging the saber around as if he could twirl it back behind him in a moment's notice. The only scythe Zero had so much as heard about belonged to the fallen Red. That fit as well, seeing as Red had been Axl's commander. Well, that left Zero with a rather prime option.

Zero simply took Axl's saber away and walked off. Axl blinked.

"What was that about?"

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Everyone was silent the next day; and Axl still didn't have his saber back.

Axl slowly trudged into the training hall with the rest of his unit. It had shrunk slightly, with the weaker human fighters and majority of stronger Reploids being moved off to other units that still had living commanders. The stronger human ones were left to train themselves with the weaker Reploids until a suitable replacement could be found. Despite his best efforts, Axl let out a wide yawn that ended with his vocals squeaking off.

"Not enough sleep?" The remainder of Axl's unit just about jumped clear out of their skins. Axl, however, just waved off the halfway hidden form of Zero.

"Nothin' personal, Mr. Zero, but it's sort of hard to sleep when you're not in bed." Before Zero could ask, Axl added, "Nightshift."

"Ah," and Zero was silent.

If there had been any noise continuing after that minor conversation, it was dropped like a hot rock when the doors opened. Forte, in full armor complete with a Commander's Saber on his right hip, walked in with Allure trailing him.

"Normally under such dark circumstances as the death of a Commander, the weaker Reploid units and stronger human Mavericks are kept together in a unit so as to spar on a daily basis; to keep their edges sharp for their next tutor. This is not the case." Another murmur began to rise up.

"Believe me or not, you ten are the best Unit Three had to offer. Your strength is beyond what normal training drills can sharpen. As such, you are all being transferred to Maverick Unit #0 for specialized training. You've already met your Commander, or at least heard rumors about him." At that point, Forte's smile turned teasing.

"I leave the remainder to you, _Commander_ Zero."

The look on everyone's face was absolutely priceless.


	7. Chapter 6: Dream

Yes, I haven't updated in a while. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, this has been sitting on my hard drive for a while, so I figured I might as well ship it out. Enjoy.

* * *

_**Salvation**_

_Chapter 6: Dream_

* * *

Everyone was giving the newly promoted Commander a wide birth. Nobody so much as looked at him in fear of inviting his wrath. Signus, who had been talking things out with Caroline in the comfort and safety of his office, no longer felt so safe when Zero knocked the automatic door down when it refused to open fast enough.

"_What,_" Zero hissed like an angry snake, "In the name of the God I've read about in Allure's bedside books, are you _thinking, Signus!!_ I can't be a _Commander_ of a group of _kids_ I've tried to _kill_ on _more_ than one occasion!!!"

Despite the fact Zero's voice had somehow managed to work into a bravado well above the typical yelling-spree Caroline was used to giving when she was mad, Signus managed to keep a straight face. Although, he could tell Caroline was one step shy of laughing her head off.

"Believe it or not, Zero, your promotion was not my idea." Signus answered calmly. His hands were like loose tables under his chin, making him look laidback, relaxed, as if he had been through so many emotional hurricanes this latest one seemed to be nothing more than a gentle summer's breeze.

"_What!?_" Zero's face was turning so red in frustration it was becoming hard to distinguish his armor from his flesh.

Allure picked that time to poke her head around the corner, smiling widely. She turned around, yelling down the hallway, "You owe me a gallon of chocolate ice cream, Uncle Blues! He broke the door down _and_ looks redder than his armor!"

Zero whirled back, the angry red in his face disappearing to make room for shock. Allure looked up at him, blinked, let out a squeak of shock, and ran for cover. Zero looked back at Signus, his hand pointing limply in Allure's direction.

"She... You..." He pointed back at Signus, before lowering his hand as everything clicked into place. Signus nodded, a smile beginning to line his lips as realization slowly dawned on Zero.

"Caroline, permission to tickle your daughter into submission?"

"Granted," was the only word Caroline could get out between her own fits of laughter.

Zero stepped over the remaining pieces of door leading to Signus' office, looking down in the direction Allure had run. He saw her poke her head out from around the corner, a small tug of yellow cloth in her hands, and before long, he saw the familiar shade-wearing face of Blues in his civilian cloths. Allure's eyes went wide when she noticed they'd been spotted. She looked up at Blues as he looked down at her, and both gulped.

"Runaway!"

"Get back here!!"

The guilty 'Ploid and child ducked past mechanics and warriors as they raced down the hallway, Zero hot on their heels and gaining quickly thanks to his Dash system. They stopped for only a moment when they reached an intersection.

"Left!" Allure shouted, while at the same time Blues shouted, "Right!" The two exchanged a quick look, before Zero's shouts of empty threats reached them.

"Right!" they both shouted. They moved in opposite directions, Blues taking the left-hand passage while Allure took the right.

Allure took one more hard right, opening a spare training room door, and ducking under the protection of a startled Axl. She skidded around behind him, grabbing tight to his right leg and huddling close.

"Um... Let me guess?" Zero's roar reached his hearing, and he gulped, "You got him mad?"

"Sort-a," Allure giggled between pants of breath. Axl sighed, noticing the devil's smirk she was giving Zero as he walked calmly through the training room door.

"Hi, Axl," Zero smirked, waving calmly at Axl.

"Hi, Zero," Axl replied casually.

"Yah know the girl you've currently got stuck to your leg?"

Axl looked down at Allure, who was currently trying to shrink away out of view. "Yep,"

Zero's smirk turned devilish. "I've got permission,"

"Okay!"

Echoes of laughter ricocheted throughout the underground compound. Blues stopped running, listening to the familiar squeals of laughter, and pretended to be disheartened.

"They got her..." and then he snickered, "Great! Means I don't have to pay up!"

And all the while, Caroline was lying back on the sofa in Signus' office, laughing so hard her face was turning blue.

* * *

"Tell me again _why_ you thought I should lead Unit #0?"

It was evening, or at least it seemed like evening, as the Day Watch switched over to the Night Watch. Allure sat on her bed, cross-legged, dressed in her ice blue bed-dress, her hands gently working through Zero's freshly washed hair. It never ceased to amaze her four-year-old curiosity how real Zero's hair felt. His hair was strong, made of the same metal as his armor she assumed, but it felt as soft and silk-like as her own hair.

"Because Forte thought it was a good idea," Allure answered.

The gold-haired Reploid sat with his back against her bed, his legs outstretched in front of him, wearing only a pair of blue jeans, his arms crossed over his well-toned chest, his emerald eyes closed. He gently swatted Allure's hand when she pulled to hard on his precious hair.

Zero didn't really know why he cared about his hair so much. It was logical to have it cut down to a more manageable level, so that it just barely brushed his shoulders, but every time he considered it, a feeling of dread stopped him. He absolutely did _not_ want _anything_ to happen to his golden mane, and the only person he allowed to so much as touch it without risk of loosing their hand was Allure. He'd let her play with it for hours, experimenting with different styles, seeing if maybe she could get it to cooperate in a braided ponytail...one that, hopefully, would not have him confused with a girl.

"Your turn," Allure's voice broke his train of though. Zero hummed, the only signal the girl got he had heard her, before flipping himself onto Allure's bed with an unusual gymnastic grace and speed. He landed cross-legged behind her, allowing her to lean back against him and give her own legs a stretch.

Zero pulled a black rectangular brush from the nightstand besides him, and gently began his work. He pulled the brush through her silvery hair with a practiced ease, working out the tangles gently, barely even pulling.

"Sill using the old conditioner?" he hummed teasingly.

"Not done with it yet, and it'd be a waist to throw it out." Allure answered calmly. Silence reigned for several more seconds, before she asked quietly, "Was it a bad idea?"

The question had been so soft, Zero hardly heard it. He stopped for a moment, thinking, before sighing and continuing on with his task.

"I've done a lot of things I don't like Allure," Zero stopped so as to pull a tangle free from the brush before continuing, "Being in charge of a Unit, like I was before... before I met you... I'm forced to remember what it was like working for _him_."

Allure gave an involuntary yip when Zero pulled too hard.

"Sorry,"

Allure was silent, thinking, before replying, "It's okay. You're not him anymore. You don't work for the dork-a-sourus anymore. You work for an ox-stubborn-headed-brick-wall-thick Commander of the Maverick Resistance Army and Caroline Light... and me, too..."

Silence again reigned for several seconds. Eternity seemed to have come and gone again when Zero finally asked, "Braided as normal?"

"Yes, please,"

He gently returned his tool to its home. His fingers seemed to work without conscious order as they repeated the routine known as braiding Allure's hair.

"Why did you ask for Axl to be put in my Unit?"

Allure seemed to be silent for a very long time – an unusually long time, in Zero's opinion.

"...Forte is taking over as Commander of Maverick Ground/Air Unit #3, in place of former Commander Red, who was one of the twenty-one lost during the escape..."

"But... But he's your Guard..." Zero gulped back shock.

"He and I... We both agreed it would be better for him to fight front-line." Zero let the braid fall unfinished from his fingers' gentle caress when Allure moved to pull herself tight, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"...We're coming apart at the seams... Two generation of war, going on to a third generation... People are losing hope. I've heard rumors some of the newer recruits, and some of the older ones, too, are thinking about just... just leaving. Getting off the mainland, moving to a remote island somewhere, away from him, so far away he'd never find us again. And some, those who have come from Colonies whose people have tried to hide from him, are saying we should just surrender and give in...

"Axl's got a lot of potential as a fighter, even though he's so young. The other kids like him too, especially Nate. You remember Nate, right? His dad's the third-in-command of your Unit's medical crew.

"Since resources are starting to dwindle, and since we're still in hiding, it's important to stretch as much as we can, as far as we can. I figured - and Forte though I might be right - that since Axl's got so much potential, he could protect me and the other kids, serve as our Guard, after he's got the kinks worked out with the Copy Shot and all... And had training from the absolute best, the second greatest living legend in Maverick History."

The unmistakable plop of a teardrop echoed into hearing.

"...And I told Signus _I_ would knock the first deserter for a loop with his own weapon... Not Uncle Blues, or mama, or Forte, or even you. Me. First person to try and quite has to fight me."

Even through her eyes seemed unnaturally cold and her face seemed to have lost all emotion, tears streamed unchecked. She sniffled, whipping her running nose against the back of her hand. Zero gently pulled her into his lap, pulling her close against him, flicking his hair over his shoulder and using it as a poor substitute for a blanket.

"No, Allure... You won't." She sniffled back her tears, looking up at him in confusion. His broken smile met her, "If someone decides to leave, then you won't fight them. I won't let you fight them. We'll simply wish them luck and let them leave."

"W-Why?" Allure demanded, pulling closer to him in a pleading fashion.

"Think for a minute, Allure. Why did your grandfather's best friend create the Maverick Rebellion in his name?" There was silence as Allure turned to look away.

"For freedom. For the right to chose your own destiny. If you stop them from leaving, you'll do nothing more than defile the name you're trying so hard to protect."

"But... But we'll lose if everybody stops fighting!" Allure countered, pouting.

"Never," Zero's determined voice replied. "Even if the fight drags on for another ten generations, the fight for freedom will never stop; demons like Wily will never win. I will personally make sure of that, Allure."

He pushed his hair around her, fully blocking her body from view, while blood red eyes stared out into the cold world hiding behind walls of garnet and steal, and bleached blond hair seemed to glow almost silver in the waning light.

"I will never stop fighting for your dream, Allure. Never,"

_Because it's my dream, too..._

* * *

Axl was back in a spare training room, a bluish-green Saber on loan from one of his teammates being choked to death in his grip. Zero may have taken away _his_ Saber, but he hadn't taken away _all_ of the Sabers. Axl was hell-bent on perfecting at least one melee attack before the night was through.

He was halfway through cutting off his own head when something metal came flying at him from, literally, no where. This something hit Axl in the head, forcing the boy to bite back a yelp of pain and drop the Saber.

"What the...?" Axl stopped talking mid sentence as the identity of the metal chunk clicked in his mind.

A Level 10 training droid – the kind of droid reserved for X and Blues' training runs – was currently missing its head.

The boy slowly picked up his on-loan Saber, slipping it into the safety of its sheath, and walked cautiously in the direction the severed head had originated in. He slowly looked around the dividing wall between his small corner of the training hall and the larger, football-field training section, and...

Axl could have sworn he stopped breathing for a solid minute.

The room was the living painting of a modern World War I trench. Bodies littered everywhere, as if someone had come along with a giant bag of confetti and tossed them out at random. Oils, coolants, and droid power fluids all ran together as one large river of black metal blood which stretched from one end of the training room to the other. The only white left in the room was on the ceiling and near the tops of the walls. The white met with jagged strips of red and black – the river's replenishing rain dripping down onto the ground.

And in the center of it all was Zero dressed in untouched civilian cloths, his Saber adding a demonic red shadow to his unbound bleach blond hair, and a single tear matching the color of his ruby eyes gently caressing his ivory synthetic flesh as it rolled down his cheek towards endless oblivion.


End file.
